Dear Church of the Open Bible,
Over the past couple of weeks, something that God has been teaching me is that people matter. You might have hoped that your pastor would be convinced of this already. But God thought I needed a reminder, and He did so in two ways.
Over the Christmas break, our family was able to join Brittany’s extended family for some time in Maui, HI. It’s a beautiful place with consistently beautiful weather. You would almost think that the people living there (or visiting there) would be the happiest people on earth. But they’re not. What made our time great was focusing on the people we were able to share God’s goodness with. Trust me, I’ve lived on the other side of the beauty spectrum (shout out to Winnipeg!), and somehow still experienced joy.
The other example God used was through some loss. The fires raging in California make this pale in comparison but a leaky pipe in our basement caused some water to enter a storage bin of ours. Unfortunately, that particular bin contained scrapbooks and journals from our younger days of being married and even earlier. As we tossed out soggy books and dried out curling pictures, I was reminded again that what matters and what will last are people.
This is not an incredibly profound truth but it has helped to remind me of priorities at the outset of this year. Faithfulness to God is inextricably connected to the people He has placed in our lives; that they may experience and live with Him. This is the glorious goal God is working towards, so may it be ours as well.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” - Revelation 21:3