"Covered"

As the HOPE family knows, we have been working on the Courtyard and Playground areas of the church.  We are just about finished, well, once this next workday is complete.  But things are shaping up nicely.  I believe when it is done, the entire area will be something we use and enjoy as a congregation.  

Since we are having a workday this coming Saturday, we have ordered several different materials to be delivered this week.  The first delivery came on Monday which was 5 tons of pea gravel that we will be using as ground cover.  The last loads of top soil and gravel we received were dumped at the front part of our property near the road and we had to load it in wheel barrels and truck it back to the work area on the side of the church.  Lots of loads, as you can imagine, were made.  So I asked the driver on Monday if he could back his truck over the grass area and dump the pea gravel closer to the work area, which he was glad to do.  But he made a suggestion to me that made a lot of sense.  He asked if I had a tarp I could put on the ground to cover it so that the gravel could be dumped on the tarp instead of the bare ground.  We had a tarp in the back storage shed and I went and got it and we spread it out over the ground covering the area where the pea gravel would fall.

Now of course some spilled over the border of the tarp.  The driver apologized to me for that, but I said, “No Problem!  It’s covered!  We’ll clean it up.”

I got to thinking later that day about the cover on the ground.  This cover (tarp) protected the ground from the gravel.  It kept the ground immediately underneath the covering from having to be cleaned.  And the fact that the covering was there, actually made it much easier to clean up the “spill overs” on the ground where the tarp did not cover.

We begin Lent today.  Lent is a 40 day period prior to Easter Sunday (excluding Sundays) where, as we journey again toward the cross of Christ, Calvary, we examine ourselves.  Yes, of course, we should examine and confess year around, but certainly the emphasis of Lent does give us food for thought in this journey.  So as I thought about the events of Monday with the “Covering” (our tarp), my mind flashed to the “Covering” provided by Jesus Christ and His blood.  He has covered us as believers.  Glory to God!  Psalm 32:1 and 85:2 reminds us of that covering.  Psalm 32:1:  “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered!”  Psalm 85:2: “You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered all their sin. Selah.”

But what about the spill over?  What happens to that?  In Matthew 8:24 we read: “And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep.”  You all know this story.  Jesus and His disciples were on the Sea of Galilee and a violent storm arose and the waves were covering the boat or in other words, spilling over from the sea into the boat and they were afraid.  Jesus was asleep and woke up to their fears and mostly screaming.  Save us Lord!!!!  Wouldn’t we be doing the same?  But this spill over, or the high waves covering the boat was no problem for Jesus to take care of.  Two words spoken, “Be still” and the waves were calm.  No more spill over!  No longer were the waves outside their borders.  Jesus had it covered, even the spill over.

He has us covered, even the spill over.  There are times we fail.  We shouldn’t, but we do.  But even in those times, He has us covered.  His blood from Calvary covers us completely and even takes care of the spill overs.  This Lenten Season, why not use these next few weeks to take a look at your life and see where you can limit those spill overs.  Yes, they are covered, but it is His desire that we sin no more.  It is His desire that we realize what is spilled over is covered, taken care of, so there is no need for Him to address that again.

We all can use some examination every now and then.  We all can see what needs to be cleaned up and then confess to Him knowing, we are “Covered!” Thanks be to God!

Blessings my friends,

Pastor Marty                   

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