Seasons Change
It is a lovely fall day. The temperature is cool. There is a hint of dampness in the air. The clouds a low like a light fog. It is a lovely fall day—ON THE SECOND DAY OF AUGUST!?!! It’s just a reminder that seasons change and that we must change with them.
It was a change of season. I was an angry teenager made precocious through much reading. I didn’t want to go to church. I certainly didn’t want to be a Christian. But there I was, at Soul’s Harbor Church, becoming one.
That was an intense season. Between bouts of Bible study, persistent persecution from my father, all day church on Sunday, and Wednesday mid-week service I didn’t have time to ponder the season, and probably wouldn’t have anyway. Like most people I didn’t recognize it as a change of season. Season’s change.
I met a girl. Really, she was just a girl. Told her on the third or fourth date that we were going to get married. She thought I was weird. That was over forty-eight years ago. We’ve been married for forty-six. It’s been a good season.
I struck out on the evangelistic field. That’s what we called traveling ministry in those days. I left with my last paycheck of a hundred dollars, my evangelist partner had ten. When we returned after two glorious revivals, (in one a lady dropped a quarter in the offering and asked for fifteen cents change), my co-revivalist had a hundred dollars in his pocket and I had ten. He returned to a job. I returned to a change of seasons.
It was an interesting season. Revivals in small, really small, churches interspersed with weeks of work when I could pick up a job and days of idleness when I couldn’t. I had experiences. I learned. That’s what seasons are for. And when you learn the lessons of one season you move into the next.
The girl and I got married. Too young. But as evidenced before it’s worked out well. It was a new season. A good man of God gave me a father son talk and said, “Up to now you’ve preached because you love Jesus. Now you’ve got to make a living at it and support this little woman.” Responsibility! It really was a new season that led, as seasons do, into the next season.
That season has lasted for forty-four years. You might call it the season of success. It began, tentatively, as seasons do, with big meetings in small churches, and grew into big meetings in big church. There were temperature changes, fronts moved in and out, there have been rainy days and snow days, and a few ice storms, because a long season is really a lot of short seasons strung together. But understanding the nature of seasons I’ve adapted to seasonal changes and seen (to quote King David and the Old Church), “the goodness of God in the land of the living.”
You may think I’m reminiscing but I’m not—I’m just using the reminiscing to explain one of the great secrets of success, knowing your season. More importantly—knowing how to discern a change of seasons. Because if you know you season and adapt to the season you will succeed.
Join me now “Behind The Door” where I’m sharing some insight on the seasons of life. You’ll find inspiration, motivation, and more. You may just find something that will move you into your next season. It’s the first of the month, the password has changed, and to get the new password you’ll have to hit the “Sowing” button and sow a seed, (that’s Pentecostalese for giving an offering). The seed can be any amount. The default setting is $20. At this writing no one is sowing less and many are sowing more. When you sow your seed you will get an automatic email with this month’s password. Write it down because it’s good for the entire month. Here’s to a great season in your life! I’ll meet you, “Behind The Door.”
