TRANSITIONS

Life consists of many transitions. I'll be 75 years old next month so I have witnessed many many transitions. Some have been good. Some have been not so good, but transition is just a certainty of life. Words from an old hymn just came to my mind. I'm not sure of the exact wording, but it is something like this. "Time is filled with swift transition. Naught of earth unmoved can stand. Build your hopes on things eternal. Hold to God's unchanging hand." I haven't sung that song in many years but I think it has a great message. That is the key. Hold to God's unchanging hand. What a blessed assurance―God doesn't change.

If you read Ginger's introduction to Spiritual Sundays for this week you know that she will not be co-hosting that blog with me. At least not for now. I have mixed emotions about it. I totally understand her situation and I think she made the right decision. But I almost feel like I've lost a good friend. Of course I have not lost Ginger. She is still my niece and she is still my friend. But it will just not be the same with her not sharing the hosting on that blog.

We who share on Spiritual Sundays owe so much to Ginger. If not for her influence I doubt I would even be blogging today. Clif had been blogging for a couple of years and had encouraged me to at least write a post on his blog once in a while. I really wasn't at all interested until one day Ginger was at our house and she showed me her blog on my computer. She was so enthusiastic about it and seemed to enjoy it so much that I thought I would give it a try. Until then I had thought that blogging was more of a guy thing. So I started a blog and that led to another one, and another one, and . . . . Then one day Ginger suggested we start a blog that others could link there and share spiritual posts. So we worked on it together, and came up with Spiritual Sundays. That was over three years ago. In that time it has grown from about 20 links to between 70 and 80 each week and sometimes more. When we started it I had no idea what a great blessing it would be for me. I thank each one of you who share there for that.

Thinking of "friends", I decided to look the word up in Bible Gateways. There were 423 references in The Message. I want to share some of them with you here.

James 2:23
And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.
James 2:22-24 (in Context) James 2 (Whole Chapter)

James 4:4
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
James 4:3-5 (in Context) James 4 (Whole Chapter)

1 John 4:7
[ God’s Love and Ours ] Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
1 John 4:6-8 (in Context) 1 John 4 (Whole Chapter)

1 John 4:11
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 John 4:10-12 (in Context) 1 John 4 (Whole Chapter)

Psalm 34:15

God keeps an eye on his friends, his ears pick up every moan and groan,

Psalm 34:14-16 (in Context) Psalm 34 (Whole Chapter)

We see that friendship is very important to God. I thank Him so much for all of my friends, but most of all I want to be counted among God's friends.