PASTORAL PONDERINGS

I have on my desk a subscription renewal notice for a magazine that I really enjoy and which is very helpful to me in my work and in my life. But I've been hesitating over it because I actually read its biweekly issues about one third of the time. That runs against this Dutchman's frugal grain! Still, even at that rate I think it is well worth the money.

How often do we get involved in things and not follow through? We buy books we never finish. We sign up for adult-ed courses and drop out after the first class. We join the gym or pay for the season swimming pool pass and use them once or twice.

When our good intentions go unrealized and projects like these fall by the wayside, it's really no big deal. But when we take the first steps on a journey of spiritual growth and then lapse into laziness, it costs us more than we can know.

By way of contrast, consider the apostle Paul. He had a conversion experience that knocked him off his horse. He had a vision that took him into "the seventh heaven." He studied and prayed for fourteen years and learned of Jesus from Peter, James and the other disciples. But he was not satisfied. After all this and more, he still told the Philippians, "I want to know Christ and the power of his Resurrection."

I pray that we may all be consumed by that spiritual hunger and ambition, to not just know about Easter, but to experience its power in our guts and bones, and to see Christ's power changing our lives daily and by the moment. By turning willing hearts toward the empty tomb, we make an investment that will pay beyond measure.