Dear Ginghamsburg Church Family,
I hope you’re staying warm on this very cold winter day! In January/February 1994 I studied abroad in Ecuador. One day I visited Mitad del Mundo near Quito. The monument is situated in a small square that has a yellow line drawn down the middle of it, which divides the Northern hemisphere and the Southern hemisphere. Mitad del Mundo literally means “half of the world.” Because of this divisional line, you can be in two places at once! I remember straddling the yellow line-standing in both summer and winter! Reflecting on this 29 years later, I write this prayer on this cold winter day in Ohio:
God of all seasons, it was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you who made both summer and winter (Psalm 74:17). As the sun rises this morning in South America, I acknowledge that half of the world awakes to the warmth and comfort of summer while the other half in North America struggles in the cold, bleak, dark, lonely world of winter. The same can be said about our spiritual seasons. Today some of us are celebrating the birth of a newborn, the excitement of a new friendship or the blessing of a blossoming career, while others are grieving the loss of a loved one, an intimate relationship or a desperately needed job. Some are enjoying good health and are able to exercise this morning, while others feel the heavy weight of sickness, the threat of COVID, the coping with pain or the anxiety of waiting for test results. Today, while some of us are in summer, others are in winter. As we straddle the middle line and live “in two places at once,” please help us to offer compassion to those around us and understand that whichever season we’re currently in, God is making everything beautiful for its own time. (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
This Sunday, February 5, I will continue our current series entitled, “Get in the Game.” Bring your friends and family to church as we discuss Jesus’ parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30. Please go to ginghamsburg.org/getinthegame to find a place to use your talents at Ginghamsburg Church.
Well, that’s all for now. My prayer is that you will stay warm today and begin to prepare for an incredible morning of worship this Sunday at church! I think I will stay inside tonight by a warm fireplace and drink a cup of hot chocolate!
Remember, as cold as it is in the Miami Valley today, half of the world right now is enjoying summer! So be encouraged! Hope is on the horizon! God is making everything beautiful for its own time (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
I love you all,
Pastor Dennis
