It is usually around this time of year that the scripture "To every thing there is a season" becomes a bit more understandable.  Going from Spring to Summer, in my opinion, is merely a change in the temperature.  The transitions from Summer to Autumn to Winter, however, are easily spotted because the physicality of them is hard to miss.  Autumn is especially noticeable because not only is there a temperature change, but there is also an alteration to the color scheme of nature.  Things that have been green for months now begin a rapid transformation to shades of red, orange, and yellow.  Along with color and temperature, there is a final change that happens in Autumn that is interesting once you give it some thought. This would be the bare necessities.

Thanks to Disney and The Jungle Book, anytime those two words are put next to each other it provokes the song that so many of us know to begin playing through on our internal jukebox.  It is the perfect way to describe the Autumn season though, if you think about it.  All the trees have given away their leaves and are left with the skeleton of branches and a trunk.  The plants that earlier in the year were producing the fruits and crops that are specific to their kind have now been harvested and left behind is the dirt that was the foundation of their existence.  Even the squirrels and all the other animals begin to prepare for a long winter by gathering up the bare necessities they need to survive.  This happens during Autumn because the Summer is too early and the Winter is too late.  This is the most elementary explanation, but it is the truth.  How many things would be negatively effected if the crops did not produce until the middle of winter?  How weird would it be to see geese flying South during Summer?  God made a reason for every season and the transitions that come with each of them.

Further down in the Ecclesiastes, after Solomon wrote of the different seasons we go through in life, he finishes up with the line that puts this whole thought into a nutshell. It says God "hath made every thing beautiful in his time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).  Just as every season we go through here on Earth has a reason, every season we go through in our life has a reason.  Which can only mean that just as we witness the beautiful bare necessities that God continues to use on this Earth, He is going to make something beautiful out of our "bare necessities" in His time.  We do not have to have everything this world wants from us.  We just have to be willing to provide everything God needs from us.  Rather than letting this world take everything from me, I want to give God everything I have.

Coburn Hoffman

​Scientists are sure the Leaning Tower of Pisa is going to fall. They travel to the town of Pisa, Italy every year to measure the building's slow descent. They report that the 179-foot tower, which was built in 1173, moves about one-twentieth of an inch a year, and is now 17 feet out of plumb. Recent renovations may have slowed the 810-year old towers descent and prevented it from collapsing, much sooner. 
 
Quite significantly, the word “pisa” means “marshy land,” which gives some clue as to why the tower began to lean even before it was completed. Another issue is the fact that its foundation is only 10 feet deep! The reason the Leaning Tower of Pisa is leaning, and will eventually fall, is because it is built on a faulty foundation.
 
Matthew 7 reminds us that it matters what it is that you are building on. It will either be the shifting sand of this world or the solid rock of Jesus Christ. It is important to notice that to both men the bible is clear to say, "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house." (Matthew 7:25) What you and I choose to build our lives upon has nothing to do with whether difficult times will come, but it has everything to do with our ability to weather those difficulties.
 
Sand builders have become obsessed with "their" ability, while rock builders know they cannot do it without Jesus Christ. Sand builders don't want the work that comes with digging deep and getting something solid, while rock builders know it might hurt for a little while, but the energy will be worth expending. Sand builders think "now I lay me down to sleep" is enough to get it done, while rock builders know it will take laying down my life, to make it through. Sand builders want the word of truth to fit around what they're doing, while rock builders know that they must be transformed by the renewing of their mind.
 
What kind of life are you building?
 
R. Hoffman
Pastor, First Pentecostal Church