Source: The Health Connection Newsletter | 4th Quarter 2022
We are celebrating another Christmas Season and will shortly welcome another New Year. I recall as a child how painfully long the wait felt for this special season to come around from one year to the next…Nowadays, it seems as if New Year ushers in an almost frenetic progression to Easter and then Christmas, with time racing by in a blur. There is so much to do and so much yet undone…
Last Christmas, we started emerging from the peak of the Pandemic. This Christmas, although the aggression of the virus has attenuated through increasing natural immunity and vaccinations, we still face the many issues that have followed in the wake of the pestilence – a significant loss of life, long Covid, economic woes, travel constraints, depression and loneliness, political divides, division, and distrust– even within the Church we love.
“Peace on Earth…” We sing these words, write them in greeting cards, see them in lights and paint them on beautiful tree ornaments. At the same time, we witness cruel conflict, the devastation of war, and the suffering of the innocent in real time to the extent that we develop compassion fatigue. Floods and fires, famine, and food shortages affect many people, many millions globally. In the midst of it all, we as health promoters have the privilege of touching lives, binding wounds, comforting the bereaved, sharing bread, and especially pointing people to the Source of life – Jesus – the Living Water, the Bread of Life!
At the same time, despite overfilled schedules, we must nurture our personal connection to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Dr. Randy Roberts, the senior pastor of the Loma Linda University Church, recently challenged his congregation to follow three steps to refreshing and renewal in these difficult times: To rest, reframe, and reach out as God brings people and opportunity our way. When we are refreshed, we have a clearer perspective on our calling [reframe] and how God wishes to use us to reach out. Then we follow as He leads.
Thank you for your faithful work and service in Comprehensive Health Ministry as you faithfully continue to make a difference! Allow yourself time during this holiday season to rest, reset and recalibrate. And as this broken, yet still beautiful, planet accelerates from crisis to crisis, we can remain thankful for God’s faithfulness, constancy, and His Word. He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. This Christmastide, with hope and confidence, we again give thanks for Jesus’ First Advent as we keenly anticipate and prepare for His Second Coming. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Maranatha!
