He changes both time and season

I was in the third grade at Riverside Elementary School in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. Most of us over 50 remember that day as well as the current generation remembers 9-11. It was a dreary day… a mild day for November… and after lunch our principal came into the room and shared something with my teacher, Miss Wickman. It surprises me that I can’t remember what I had for breakfast this morning and yet I can remember events of that day.

Because I was an American, growing up in America, it might have meant a little more perhaps to my family as my aunt was a worker for the Democratic election campaign. A president was assassinated. The 35th president. The only president I had ever shook hands with in my life. (I can still remember the crowd at Serb Hall when John F. Kennedy was campaigning. I shook his hand and he gave me a PT-109 tie tac.) He was gone – and the country was in mourning.

It was a day that changed the course of a country and would ever be upon the hearts of all Americans. (That being said, I am not taking sides, pro or con for the president as a human being, nor am I going to bash the dead.) I can remember that school was released early on that day. I walked home wondering if my parents had heard the news. I got home and remember the sight of my mom standing, ironing at her ironing board in front of the television and sobbing.

I remember that all television was preempted for four days and Monday there was no school. People all over the country were watching by television the scene of the horse without a rider and the limbers and caissons bearing the flag draped coffin which held the remains of one of the most powerful leaders of his generation.

And everyone remarked… “I can’t believe he’s gone.”

As this infamous anniversary rolls through November this year, I am reminded of the statement that Daniel made: Dan 2:21 And he changes the times and the seasons: he removes kings, and sets up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

When we look around, we can see in hindsight the hand of God in each event that shaped our lives. If we look hard enough, we will find that there is a sovereign God who controls the ebb and flow of each tide – and HE truly has left both footprints and fingerprints in each of our pasts.

A nation was shocked with circumstances that they could neither change nor alter – but in our time of shock we had two choices. We could grow angry and withdraw and cease to live – or we could pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and continue forward. And that’s what we did. From accomplishing space exploration to renewing a 16th President’s vision for civil rights – as a country, we moved forward.

Things may happen in your life that chill you to the bone. I think of Job who had pretty much lost everything as the enemy rode through his camp and took all that Job thought he needed to survive.

In Job 42:10 he finds a seed that when planted, could cause the vineyard to once again prosper. And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also, the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

The keywords in that verse were “he prayed.” He went to the one who isn’t moved by circumstance. He went to the one who is not shocked when the election results come in. You’ll never hear God saying the morning after an election, “huh… didn’t see that coming.” He came face to face with the one who tells us that He is, indeed… in charge. YOU can’t turn things around… but you can go to the only one who can.

Back to what Daniel says… He changes the times and seasons. Sometimes it’s time to grow cold. Sometimes a warm front. In one hemisphere leaves fall and at the same time, in another hemisphere, buds mark the new beginning of growth and purpose.

You see… it matters what we do… but then again… it really doesn’t alter His will and purpose. Time will, as they say, march on. The weather will be cold tomorrow in Michigan whether you get angry about it or not. Leaves will continue to fall in spite of your great faith.

Kennedy had a bronze plaque on his desk with the Breton Fisherman’s prayer… “oh God your sea is so great and my boat is so small.” He was quoted as saying: Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.

It doesn’t matter if you liked the man or if you didn’t. That’s not what this word is about. It’s about the going forward in the face of adversity while trusting a God who shows us by His love and His path that HE is in charge.

And… if you are HIS, then He is also in charge of you.

This was the scripture read at that funeral 50 years ago: It touched my heart as a 7 year old and it touches my heart now.

Ecc 3:1 To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Ecc 3:2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

Ecc 3:3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

Ecc 3:4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

Ecc 3:5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

Ecc 3:6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

Ecc 3:7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

Ecc 3:8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

I learned at an early age that timing is everything… and His timing is divine. As we take a look back at history – we find out that it has this quirky little habit of repeating itself.

The same wind keeps circling the globe. The seasons continue to grow, change and die… and grow again. Leaders, heroes, killers, thieves – they all have one thing in common. They come and they go. And God has the final say in all of it.

I said… GOD HAS THE FINAL SAY IN ALL OF IT. So… Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

So… why do we feel discouraged, defeated and leveled by the circumstances? Your attitude and your faith in the midst of the turning will cause you to go forward. And I know… that I have said this before, but I must again remind you – that your ability to go forward is in the nugget of seeking His face and finding His presence when everything around you has gone crazy.

Hab 3:17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

Hab 3:18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Though the winter has found you today… the warmth of His life will carry you forward.