Pastoral Letter
Dear Friends,
What a wonderful Summer we have had. Day after day of bright, warm sunshine. Have you noticed, though, that increasingly the weather forecasters have been apologising for the lack of rain. Pauline and I have particularly noticed the lack of rain this year, because we have moved from one of the wettest parts of the country (Plymouth) to one of the driest. Almost everyone would rather have sunshine than showers. But just imagine what our world would be like if it never rained again.
An example of such a place is in Northern Chile. Franklin Elmer, Jr., described a region between the great Andes mountain range and the Pacific Ocean where rain never falls. He wrote: "Morning after morning the sun rises brilliantly over the tall mountains to the east; each noon it shines brightly down from overhead; evening brings a picturesque sunset. Although storms are often seen raging high in the mountains, and heavy fog banks are observed far out over the sea, the sun continues to shine on this favoured and protected strip of land. One could easily imagine this area to be an earthly paradise; but it is not. Instead, it is a sterile and desolate desert! There are no streams of water, and nothing grows there."
All too often we long for total sunshine and joy in life. We want to be rid of burdensome responsibilities, to be free of cares and woes. But, like that sunny, unfertile part of Chile, life without its difficulties, its burdens and its trials would not be creative, productive, or challenging. We need rain and showers as well as sunshine.
The storm clouds of suffering may at times blot out the sun and threaten to engulf us. But the trusting Christian recognizes that in God's wise design and under His sovereign control they actually bring showers of blessing. As Douglas Mallock so beautifully puts it in his poem:
The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
Never became a forest king,
But lived and died a common thing.
The man who never had to toil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man,
But lived and died as he began.
Good timber does not grow on ease.
The stronger wind, the tougher trees,
The farther sky, the greater length,
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In tree, or man, good timber grows.
May God bless you all.