Fellow Pescadores, As I look out my window this morning, I see all the signs of spring, a new beginning. For gardeners, it is the time of planting. Soon it will be the time of tending and watering those plants, and then before we know it, the time of harvest. In Ecclesiastes 3 we read the following:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Each of us is in a different place this morning. Some are in mourning for the loss of a loved one. Some have the joy of seeing new birth. Some are just graduating from university, eager for that sense of new beginning that comes with starting a career; some are making that first step into retirement. But each of us has this in common: we serve a risen Savior who took those stripes on His back for our healing, then died on a cross that we might be saved. He continues to hold this world together and once again brings us a glorious spring, that we might see His majesty in new beginnings . . . and have our hope renewed. Let us rejoice together as we enter this new season with our spring weekends. Be purposeful to sponsor that one person God has revealed to you, that He is calling to a closer walk with Him!