Tami's Meandering Thoughts

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39

I went on my first apart-from-my-family mission’s trip the summer between my sophomore and junior years of high school. It was with a group of teens, organized by a large organization called Teen Missions, based in Florida. The team I went with traveled to England to help a church with their VBS and then we traveled on the canals doing open-air and door-to-door evangelism. Besides a strenuous team-building boot camp in Florida (where I got my first understanding of chiggers), and a rigid set of rules (When I went they had the rule that all teams must wear steel-toed work boots because most of the teams were work projects. So, even those of us who were on evangelism teams had to wear them. Imagine walking through the streets of England in a skirt and work boots! LOL), they also had built-in spiritual development experiences. One of those was a what-I-thought-insurmountable packet of verses that we had to memorize during the summer.

I made it through that summer stronger in many ways, including spiritually. In fact, whenever a difficult situation arises or when I begin to question whether God’s love is really reaching me, I remember Romans 8:38-39, two verses that I memorized that summer in England. These last two weeks these verses have repeatedly run through my mind. Not because I seriously questioned God’s love or provision, but because, when I see the struggles in people’s lives, I just want to assure both them and myself that we do serve a God who cares. Nothing can separate us from the love of God that was shown in Jesus…

Not death or life: Are you scared of death, either yours or a loved one’s? Or perhaps something physical in this life scares you. Remember God breaks through both scary life situations and even death to show his love.

Not angels or demons or any powers: Some people walk around with a fear of the unseen, especially demons. We do need a healthy fear of the supernatural world because it does exist. However, God’s love is more powerful than the angels AND demons.

Not the present or the future: These last two weeks I have talked with a surprising number of people who are going through difficult times, and I have felt quite a sense of how people (including myself) really are living in a befuddled fog as we grope our way through each day, making decisions based on the limited knowledge that we have. However, God’s love comes from beyond our present, breaking into our lives with a burst of hope and light. God’s love also reaches into our future. We should not live in dread of the future, but rather grasp hold of God’s love which will meet us there as well.

Not height or depth: There is nowhere you can go, to a busy office, on a scuba-diving venture, or into the heart of Africa, where God’s love will not be with you.

Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen.