The 900th Watchword?
If you were to go to this website and click on the tab watch word, you would find a treasure of devotionals that have been written over the past 4 1/2 years, through all the pandemic to the present time. Sometimes these were posted daily, more recently they have been going out to all those who would like them three times a week. Recently I’ve had cause to review the record of these watchwords only to find that recently I published my 900th Watchword, a devotional entitled “Happiness is a Bird”.
Wow, it’s hard to believe, 900 Watchwords. A marker event where it may be appropriate to remind ourselves of how we got started and what we have gone through, more than four years later still honoring our Lord with these devotionals and essays.
We don’t need to remind ourselves of the isolation of the pandemic, and all the stresses and difficulties that we experienced, only to point out that regardless of what is in front of us, our God has led us by His mighty hand and got us to the other side.
I looked at the first four Watchwords that we sent out just to see where we were and how we approached our need for encouragement, and what was on our minds. Early in the pandemic we were caught up in doing things right, isolating ourselves, separating ourselves from one another, and dealing with the question of to mask or not to mask.
We started with just 16 on our mailing list, and now that number is around 80 or so. The original group were the men from eight different congregations who for years had gathered in Bible study. Watchwords were actually an e-mail designed to encourage each of us to keep in contact with both ourselves and our Lord.
That first devotional was entitled “The Church is Dark” and contained this good thought as part of a commentary: “Here it is Sunday morning and I am at home, my church is dark, and maybe yours, too – but not our hearts for we learned long ago that church is within us, and Jesus is Lord…Even in adversity there are lessons to be learned. The strength that comes from overcoming difficulties with the faith that God is in charge and God loves us. What we were all going through with the virus was not a test, it’s was an opportunity for our ‘hearts to burn’ with the knowledge that He is with us (Luke 24:32). Peace.”
A good sentiment, indeed. In a Bulletin Board announcement from Dan and Gary, members of our group, was the reminder that the phone is perfectly safe to use, and this was followed up by their researching of COVID precautions. Underscoring the important of all of us contributing information and encouragement during this difficult time.
Then, in another Watchword, we read this by Jesse Jordan: “Worship the creator, not the creation… At the end of the day what is your hope?? In three short months, just like he did with the plagues of Egypt, God has taken away everything we worship. God said, you want to worship athletes. I will shut down the stadiums. You want to worship musicians? I will shut down civic centers. You want to worship the actors? I will shut down theaters. You want to worship money? I will shut down the economy and collapse the stock market. You don’t want to go to church and worship me? I will make it so you can’t go to church.
If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Maybe we don’t need a vaccine. Maybe what we need is to take this time of isolation from the distractions of the world and have a personal revival where we focus on the only thing in the world that really matters. Jesus.”
That was a terrific statement. In the midst of it all, we learned to seek His face and to turn back to all that He means — Lord and Savior.
I think that’s enough of a walk down memory lane. The pandemic and all that it meant was not a happy time, but it was a time of self-evaluation, struggle, and we as individuals and we as a nation have not been the same since. If there is a single thought coming away from this posting it would be that God is still in charge and His love continues even when we step on that slippery slope when the little ‘c’ church, us, is dark. Thank you, Heavenly Father Amen.
