The grapevines have been sleeping since the middle of December and yesterday the Chardonnay vines woke up. The cry is, “we have bud-break at Eberle,” which is the first ranch to come out every year. We have begun a new season of growth. The other varietals will follow in their usual order until Cabernet Sauvignon breaks about a month from now.  The vines do what comes naturally.

The deaf man with a speech impediment did what came naturally to his state of being; he didn’t hear or speak plainly. People brought him to Christ because there was hope for this man’s future in the Healer. We rejoice that Jesus healed this man!

“And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. ³³And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. ³⁴And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." ³⁵ And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Mark 7:32-35

Being healed by Christ must have been amazing – he could hear and speak! The Scriptures reveal Jesus’ miracle to point us to the powerful work of God in our lives. Jesus healed then, Jesus heals today.  This is not just a Bible “story,” this is the action of the Lord of life who is with us and in us. This is a miracle! This is true then and now - Christ restores life by his word and touch.

The Scriptures don’t track this one healed man’s life. How did he function as a healed man? He had relied on others to speak on his behalf. He had not been able to make a living. He had suffered greatly as an outcast. He probably spent a good amount of time feeling sorry for himself. He was probably a beggar. Everything was different, his life was changed. Now what??? He needed to learn to live in a new way.

Living the old way was not easy, but who says living a new way is? Life is hard. Living the old way probably makes us miserable, but sometimes, especially those hard times during the day when we’re tired or down on ourselves, we’d rather be miserable in the old way. Keeping our eyes fixed on the one who has healed and saved us challenges us to the core of our being. At times we feel so full of life in the new way, yet at other times we struggle beyond what anyone could possibly know.

Learning a new way is hard because it requires a lot of courage to shift our way of thinking about the value of our life to the Living Lord. Kicking our hearts is easier than embracing the Living Lord who lives there. Learning a new way is hard, but it is good and right. In the new way, the healed way in Christ, our thinking, our doing; our heart, our soul, our mind, our spirit and our body are congruent and alive.

There are 60 seconds in one minute, 60 minutes in one hour, 24 hours in one day, seven days in one week and 365 days in one year. If we have lived 48 years in an old way, of course the new way is going to be challenging. Christ calls us from the old way into a new way, into his life. He heals us, he walks with us, he lives in us, and he places people in our path to lead, guide and train in the new way. As we live in the new way the new way becomes natural, it becomes part of our nature in Christ. We are God’s work in progress; a process of becoming all God has created us to be, fully human and fully alive.

May God grant us courage to live alive. May God grant us boldness to reach out and receive and reach out to give, because in giving we receiving and in receiving we give. May God’s peace guard our hearts every moment. Blessings IN Christ, Cindy

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