Although some people think it morbid, I love to walk through the paths of the cemetery and remember old friends and patients from the past. I am a retired health care worker and have many memories of caring for these people in their time on earth. I have helped some of them to die with less pain and some semblance of comfort, and have given heartfelt encouragement to believers. It feels good to bring up the faces and memories of those gone before me. As I gaze around at all the headstones and ornaments, I wonder what it will be like when the graves open.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 – But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I'll probably never fully understand. We're not all going to die — but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes — it's over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we'll all be changed. (MSG)

I try to imagine what it will be like! Will these headstones topple over with the expulsion of six feet of dirt, as resurrected bodies rise up and meet Jesus in the air? Will all the buried people come out? It is really hard to imagine. Many versions say that it will happen "in the twinkling of an eye".

1 Corinthians 15:52 – In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the [sound of the] last trumpet call. For a trumpet will sound, and the dead [in Christ] will be raised imperishable (free and immune from decay), and we shall be changed (transformed). (AMPC)

When this happens, will I be alive on earth or will I be in my grave? The Bible tells us that no one knows the time, but many say that it is coming soon. Only the Father knows. What I do know in my knower is that wherever I am, at the sound of the trumpet, I will be raised with Christ. I will then experience what is written in today's passage. I am confident that my name is written in His Book of Life.

Where are you going to be? Do you know? If you want to be with Him, just ask Him. He loves you, too.

Prayer: Dear God, please add me to Your Book of Life. I am a sinner, and I accept and believe that Jesus Christ is Your Son and that He died for my sins so that I might have eternal life. I make Jesus the Lord of my life, and I will live in Your salvation, because the Bible tells me so. Amen.

First Presbyterian Church in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, will never be accused of not taking the risk to continue its ministry in the face of financial ruin. They took the talents (money and assets) given to them and, on bended knee with many prayers, risked it all!

You may remember previous devotionals from this series about the congregation's decision to move to a storefront ministry and give their property and church building to a developer who would build a new, affordable church for them. But a developer could not be found, so the congregation decided to sell the property and the church building and continue on with the storefront church.

These decisions did not come lightly. Many were like the Hebrew people who had come out of Egypt with Moses, clamouring to go back to Egypt! But with Presbytery's help, the congregation is working to learn how to move forward and how to use their resources for outreach and worship. This was a huge undertaking and took a toll on many.

These situations are happening to many of our formal, established, old churches. Perhaps yours is one of them. Do you have enough finances to continue each year, or are you living on investments from previous years? How long will they last? What will you do?

The most important answer is to look in the right place. No matter what decision you have to make, ask God what you should do. Although many will have opinions on the solution, only God knows the right answer and the right solution, but you've got to ask, and then listen and listen and listen. Then the big, huge thing: you've got to make the often-difficult change that God might be asking you to do!

First Presbyterian Church has taken the risk of letting go of its building and moving forward into an outreach-based ministry in a storefront environment. The congregation is trying to see this not as an end, but as a beginning. They don't know what the future will bring, but they do know the One who holds the future.

Prayer: Father God, on bended knee, we ask You to hold Your people and Your church in Your hands. We ask You to bring us the answers that we need in today's world to worship and to be Your disciples. Give us the strength that is needed to listen and obey. Amen.

Matthew 16:1-3 – Some Pharisees and Sadducees were on him again, pressing him to prove himself to them. He told them, "You have a saying that goes, 'Red sky at night, sailor's delight; red sky at morning, sailors take warning.' You find it easy enough to forecast the weather — why can't you read the signs of the times?" (MSG)

Previously, I wrote that for financial reasons, First Presbyterian Church in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, was closing and moving into an empty space downtown. We chose to make a daring and drastic change to try to continue our ministry to our Lord by serving the community at large and change how we did "church". We have started to move into The Gathering Place, a small, empty storefront space that we have attempted to change into our new church. The renovations are almost finished — just some small fixes needed here and there. The workers are tired and nervous. Is it good enough? Will people come?

Port Colborne is a lakeside community and very familiar with today's Scripture about forecasting the weather according to the colour of the sky. It is true; we can make our outdoor plans based on the colours of the sky. But could we forecast whether our new ministry would be successful?

We have prayerfully made huge decisions on this change. Our research shows that storefront churches are the only growing churches in North America. We have planned and argued and laughed, and had innumerable meetings. We have spent thousands of our left-over dollars, and we are almost broke. We are submitting applications for any and all grants that might be available to us.

Then, there is the downsizing. If you have ever downsized your home, you might be able to imagine what it was like for about 100 people to downsize a huge church that has been active for over 149 years. Deciding what we will move and what will stay was really hard. What do we do with the precious tea cups that ladies of the congregation have treasured for so long that will not fit into the kitchenette in The Gathering Place? It might sound silly to some, but tearful to those ladies. What do we do with three sets of hymn books that we all love different songs from? There is so much. Is your church full, too?

We are still on our knees asking God and asking and asking. What will happen? Are we reading the signs right? Our overseeing presbytery has been very encouraging to us. We are definitely an experiment. So many large denominational churches are closing down, and things don't look better in the future. If we are successful at continuing to worship God and serving others in this form, we will be a first in our area. Now, we have to stop "doing" and keep our eyes on what Paul writes:

Romans 10:8-10 – The word that saves is right here, as near as the tongue in your mouth, as close as the heart in your chest. It's the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God — "Jesus is my Master" — embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That's it. You're not "doing" anything; you're simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That's salvation. (MSG)

Is God calling you to stop "doing" and start trusting Him?

Prayer: Father God, help us to keep our eyes on You whenever we go through great changes and want to do it ourselves. May our changes lead us into serving those You have given us and lead us further into Your kingdom. Amen.

Jeremiah 26:13 – So do something about it! Change the way you're living, change your behavior. Listen obediently to the Message of your God. Maybe God will reconsider the disaster he has threatened. (MSG)

In Part One of our saga, First Presbyterian Church in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, realized that because of finances, we had to leave our church building and move. We were hoping to find a developer who would take our old church, build us a new, smaller, manageable sanctuary and take the rest of the land and building for apartments.

Our first stumbling block has arrived. The developer has taken on a church building in nearby St. Catharines, and will not be working on our site. Now, what will we do? Rev. Bartha and his committee have found us an empty storefront downtown that will become our temporary home for a few years. This building needs some renovations, but a storefront? A storefront ministry? What do we know about a storefront ministry?

A retired minister from our congregation, Rev. Larry Beverly, has led us in "vision" meetings about the kind of congregation that we want to be. We can't stay the same. We are learning through prayer, Scripture, and messages what a storefront ministry might be. Through much soul-searching, prayer, and discussion, we were getting a bit excited! We have been busy making plans to re-plant ourselves downtown and define a new missionary thrust for our congregation. It might sound easy, but it wasn't and it isn't. As Jeremiah urged in today's verse, we had to change. We had to do something about how we were living. We had to change our behaviour. Then, maybe we could survive as a congregation and continue to worship and serve God.

But everyone does not want or desire change, no matter what the consequences. Several of our members and elders left for other churches. Elders meetings, although successful, were volatile and long. Finances, emotions, and expectations were always the culprit in our great change. On the positive side, we had many volunteers to help renovate the new space into a new "church". A general contractor, drywallers, cleaners, and people providing lunches kept our spirits high.

So far, our congregation has made the first steps in changing. We are trying hard, as Jeremiah tells us, to listen obediently to the Message of our God. All our energies are being directed to change a closed building (an old formal church) to a new ministry, called The Gathering Place, open to our community; to change from a mission that was cerebral to one that is full of activity and is people-oriented. We are learning what needs we can fill in the downtown and how we can serve our community.

The believers of First Presbyterian Church, Port Colborne, are down on our knees, accepting the challenge and plowing on with change!

The world is constantly changing around us. God is urging us to change the way that we reach out and minister to it. Are we willing to follow as He leads us?

Prayer: Father God, we ask that You would give all Your people the spirit to want to continue Your church, even though the way of doing "church" may be changing. We ask for Your help for all people who need to make large changes in their lives — changes that are so difficult. Show us the way, Lord. Lead on! Amen.

Esther 4:14 – If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this? (NLT)

Last March, we faced a difficult annual meeting for our First Presbyterian Church in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada. The elders appointed me as their representative to give the bad news to the congregation: We were going to run out of money at the end of 2017. We all knew that this was coming, but now we had to face it. We had been living off our investments for 10 to 15 years, and the end was in sight. The very large building that we occupied needed repairs that were too expensive for us. It was falling down, with peeling paint and a leaky roof, beside so many other problems. Our numbers had declined also, as our community was shrinking. Manpower was a big issue.

So, our big decision was whether to stay until the money ran out, or else move to a temporary home until we could give the property to a developer who would build us a smaller, manageable sanctuary for the price of the property that he could develop for his own use. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. Visions of bulldozers taking down our precious church, which those before us had worked so hard to build, filled our minds. What about the beautiful stained-glass windows?

If we stayed, then we would be like Esther's family in today's Scripture, and the congregation would be no more when the money ran out. Were we the congregation chosen to act bravely and step out in faith, not knowing exactly what would happen? Were we here for such a time as this?

The idea of the congregation dying was very real and close to home. We had seen it happen to other Presbyterian churches in nearby Niagara and to congregations of other denominations within our own town. Some had made decisions either to keep their building and let go of the minister or just to close down and not exist at all. We had about 120 people on our roll at the time, and we all felt like a large family. None of us wanted to see this happen, but we had to face reality.

The vote was taken, and by a very large majority, it was decided to move to a temporary home and ask a developer — who was already interested — to take our church. We had decided to move on. We decided to stay together. The change had begun! The elders were directed to speak to our overseeing presbytery for authorization, and on we go! Can we do it? Only with God! If He wants us to continue to worship together, we will be successful.

As worshipping congregations, do we idolize our buildings? Do they stand in the way of our doing God's will?

Prayer: Father God, in such a huge change, we ask that You would guide and bless this congregation and other congregations that might be going through the same kinds of decisions. Give us all the courage and wisdom to discern the difference between worshipping a building and worshipping You. Amen.

It happened the other day — but let me start at the beginning.

My mother is almost 91 years old. She misses family, friends, and a lifestyle that is now gone. She states that she would like to pass on, but she hangs on to life by her fingernails with gusto. I told her that if I were still alive when I reached 80 years old, that would be it. I wouldn't want to live any longer. I told her that I would just stop taking all my medication (17 pills a day) and with my medical problems, it would not be long before my body died. I know in my "knower" that I'm going to heaven, so I would be ready to meet the Lord. (How smug I sounded, right?)

Then, I was reading my daily devotionals a few days later, and, lo and behold, I read:

Proverbs 18:9 – He who is loose and slack in his work is brother to him who is a destroyer and he who does not use his endeavours to heal himself is brother to him who commits suicide. (AMP)

The italicized words are additions from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. It is not in all versions. The footnote reads: "Its statement addresses the problem of whether one has a moral right to neglect his body by 'letting nature take its unhindered course' in illness."

Maybe some already knew of this, but I didn't. God has shown me that my plan was not in agreement with His plan. Obviously, when I made my plan, I didn't consult the Lord in prayer first. Perhaps your plans are a little awry too? In the future, I will remember this:

Proverbs 19:21 – Many plans are in a man's mind, but it is the Lord's purpose for him that will stand. (AMP)

Prayer: Thank You, Father God, for Your Word and for Your patience as we learn what You want us to know. Please forgive our sins and mistakes and lead us to Your answers in Your holy Word. Amen.

Have you ever had these thoughts? I know I have, maybe before going through surgery or to the funeral of a loved one. I remember taking my aunt with force from her bedroom because she believed that if she just stayed there, her husband would not be dead; it would not be real. Or perhaps you've had such thoughts before going to someone you've wronged and asking for forgiveness. You know you have to do it, but you don't want to.

Our hurts are minor compared to what the Lord Jesus Christ went through. We deserved them, but He was innocent. But He didn't want to go either. He prayed to his Father to "take this cup from me". However, hallelujah! He did it! He let them bruise and cut His body with scourging whips, and hammer nails into his hands and feet, and hang Him on an old tree until He died, in order that He might pay the penalty of death for our sins. He loves us that much! We can have eternal life because He did it!

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

Luke 22:41-42 – And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw and knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but [always] Yours be done. (AMP)

Prayer: Jesus Christ, thank You for going through with it, for me — for me, my God, for me! Amen.