"Come Before Winter"
II Tim. 4:9-22
Tom Faggart

God has created a special season to buffer and prepare us for winter ...Fall. Fall reminds us of what is coming. In fact, most of the time Fall flashes over and over again ...make preparations ... make preparations ... remember the cold. It says it for us with beautiful displays of color on the vegetation. Ole Jack Frost comes and paints the leaves. He makes them red and yellow, and blue, and orange, and purple, and lavender, greenish yellow, and purplish red. The bodies of the animal life go through changes also. Warm coats of fur appear as though by magic. The animal bodies store extra fat. Some hide and store food. Then there are those fortunate enough to be able to travel over extremely long distances to go to warmer climates.

In the Fall... God's creation is about the process of preparing for winter. A WINTER whose wrath we can only anticipate. Said the paper this past week....It's going to be a bad winter. The squirrels have collected more nuts than usual and have hidden them.

If, I were home in Kannapolis I'm sure by now I could get a wooly worm prediction. None of us know what kind of winter awaits us. We know only that in this colorful time wise people will make plans to deal with it.

The great apostle Paul was aware of the fact that winter was close at hand and that he also should be making preparations. He writes to a young preacher friend and asked him to bring certain items, and a person before Winter arrived. Each item would serve him well in the winter that was just ahead.

The items that Paul wanted were:

1. His cloak ... A cloak was heavy woolen garment used as an overcoat, a rain coat, and for many a wearied traveler a sleeping bag. This fact reminds us of the existence of PHYSICAL WINTERS.

2. Bring my Biblos ...Parchments ... the books of the Bible that Paul owned, and the legal papers he would need to defend himself in the court of Caesar. Paul was preparing for a SPIRITUAL WINTER.

3. Bring John Mark ...For he can do for me much good. Paul was celebrating a summer after an INTERPERSONAL WINTER.

This morning I want to talk with you about these winters that are stated and implied in Paul's request. As he made preparations let us also make preparations.

Physical Winters,

and Interpersonal Winters ... in that order.

I. Physical winters ... "Bring my cloak", said Paul. No doubt he was well aware of how it felt to be exposed to the cold winds of winter.  Sickness would come and his life would be miserable.  Illnesses in life wreak havoc with us human beings.  Physical discomforts come in other experiences also.

1. Strained, and broken family relationships

2. Financial problems brought on by job loss,

or an economy which is sitting still in the water.

3. unpredictable illnesses.

4. death in the family.

Such events which wreak havoc upon us are not brought on by an angry God.  They are part of the life process.

BRING MY CLOAK ... Paul was preparing for the time when the cold winds of winter would blow through the window and chill his bones ...

I think of physical winters mostly in the context of illness. In fact, the first time I preached this sermon it was the week my grandmother was taken to the hospital with a stroke. Four long years she fought this savage illness, but in the end lost.

I went to visit her on the day of her death.  Seeing her lying there in a fetal position, muscles frozen and mind imprisoned for three years was more than I could handle. The fact that we lived 5 1/2 hours away helped lengthen the time between visits. One day my mother called and informed me that the family had decided I was the culprit. Grannie wasn't going to die until I came and said goodbye. For me to get home and do it. We drove home, I gathered all my courage and emotions together and went into that room. I said my goodbyes, and drove home. She died that evening.

Knowing how vigorous she had been and how she loved her health caused me to think deeply about my own health.

PAUL'S ONE REDEEMING COMMENT AND SO ESSENTIAL TO THIS TEXT...BUT THE LORD STOOD BY ME!  In the physical winters of Life God will stand by us all.

Again let me say, these difficulties are a part of the normal life experience of each of person gathered here this morning. No one is exempt! We are all involved!

"Build your house upon a rock, and not upon the sand. When the storms of life blow upon your house it will stand."  Physical winters will come.  With God's grace they are only temporary.

One of the areas where the wintertime comes is in our interpersonal relations.

Most of the Winters in relationships seem to come within the family ...husband/wife. Maybe its the stress of the days. Maybe it's that we live to expect too much out of family life. Perhaps, its because of the changes we encounter as we mature as adults. I'm convinced much of it is related to disagreements over finances and children. Whatever it is there is a great deal of pain in our families.  Too many are taking the easy way out through divorce.  Most of our interpersonal problems can be solved with a little time and understanding.

Paul was the leading Baptist minister in our area. He had headed a program to have a town wide revival. After everyone agreed to having the revival. He wanted to bring in as the speaker a man who had written letter after letter to the Raleigh News and Observer attacking the UMC. We Methodist could not support having the man as the speaker. Paul insisted saying he had already engaged the man.  We left! I lost my respect for Paul because of this happening. Months and a year passed. Our oldest son came down with a rare blood disease. The local doctors thought he had leukemia. Our household was in a bad way.  Our son was hospitalized.

Paul happened to see us in the room at the hospital.  He stuck his head in the door and asked what was happening.  We invited him in, and told him our story. He was sensitive to our pain.  Before he left he asked to pray. Methodist preachers had come and gone. No one prayed. Paul did. Strangely enough standing there holding his hand while he prayed I lost all my animosity. After that day we became fishing buddies.  The past event didn't seem to matter anymore.  The winter had gone, and Spring had come.

I don't know what problem John Mark and Paul  had. Most Biblical scholars think it was John Mark's getting homesick on his  first time from home. Leaving home for the first time is difficult. It is the first stage of adult development. Paul could not handle him at this time. He broke off the friendship but must have picked it up later.  In the morning lesson he says, "Bring John Mark with you for he can do me much good."

Serious Christians will follow this example and let interpersonal difficulties be temporary.

Breaks in our interpersonal relationships should be short. We have to learn to forgive and to forget. Get on with life.

Miester Eckhardt, 13th century Catholic Scholar and Priest, was chastised by the church for some of his teachings. Those teachings are being studied by scholars today, and are making a great impact upon the thinking of our leaders.

Eckhardt was convinced that the outer world relationships between our health and our relationship with others is controlled by the inner world of the individual. This is no new thought. Jesus himself brought it up while dealing with the leaders of the religious community of his day. Your outward world is polished like a tombstone, said Jesus. Your inner world is all messed up ...like dead men's bones.

The Jews taught that outward actions were the signs and fact of faith. Jesus taught the intentions of the heart were more important.

Build your inner world upon the rock, and not upon sand. When the storms, rains, winds of life blow upon you you will stand. Otherwise you will fall.

When we come to church, Bible Study, and prayer meetings we are working on our inner persons and preparing for winter. From time to time the ordinary service will turn into something special and God will bless us with new insights to life.  There will come a time when our spirits will hurt, and we will feel God no longer hears or cares. Like Paul we need the Word to know that all the saints suffered in kind. Plus we need to have had a time of closeness with God ourselves. The two together will sustain in our Spiritual Winter.

This morning we have discussed only three of the Winters of life, and I am sure there are more.  The point is that for the Christian difficulties are temporary, and by the grace of God Spring comes and life goes on.  Are you prepared for Winter?   

Are your prepared for the Winters of life. If not, today is your day.