Pastor’s Pen:
Wisconsin Spring Time – Happy Spring
Wisconsin spring does not arrive gently. It fights its way through frost, through mud, through weeks of sky that cannot decide what season it belongs to. And then, suddenly — green grass. Birdsongs. Light that actually feels warm on your face.
Romans 15:4 tells us that "everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide, we might have hope."
That word *endurance* resonates in a Wisconsin winter. But so does the hope on the other side of it.
The Scriptures were not given to us merely as history. They were given to hold us through the long, cold seasons — so that when the thaw finally comes, we recognize it as God's faithfulness, not coincidence. Paul's prayer in Romans 15:13 says it plainly: may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him.
God is still the God of hope. And in Wisconsin, every April, creation agrees.
Perhaps you feel you are still in winter. Perhaps the ground of your life still feels frozen, the skies still heavy. Hold on. The same God who commands the seasons commands your circumstances. He has not forgotten you, and the thaw is coming. Trust the God of endurance, lean into the God of encouragement, and rest in the God of hope — for He is all three, and He is faithful.
