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 Hello March! I like March because it begins pointing us to Easter, which I know is the first Sunday in April, but March leads up to it. March is signaling no more Winter! March is the time of March Madness. March is the month of Nan and my anniversary, it will be……… years. March is the month we get to spring forward with our clocks with daylight savings time, while we technically lose an hour of sleep, we get to have longer daylight! March is a month that reminds us the importance of time. Easter focuses on three days, March Madness a focus on a few weeks, my anniversary a focus on years and daylight savings a focus on hours.

Time is an interesting thing, it is something we all have, and we can’t add. God knows the number of our days and so I believe God expects us to use the hours, days, weeks and years with good stewardship. Each day you have been given 86,400 seconds to use. By the time you have finished reading this you will probably have 180- 240 seconds less than when you began reading this article. No matter how “tight” you are with your time, you cannot save it and you cannot add to it. The Book of James is one of my favorite books in all the Bible. James gives us advice on many areas of our everyday lives. James 4:13-17 challenges us about what we do about our time.

13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. 1

James points out a few things we should consider as we come into the Easter season and daylight savings time. First, realize that everyday is a gift and a blessing from God. I struggle with procrastination, or putting off until tomorrow, rather than focusing on today. As the seconds tick by, we need to put an effort in what we do TODAY! We must be careful though, because that doesn’t mean just completing tasks. I think it can mean cleaning the garage (something I keep putting off), but it really means take time to tell that person “I love you.” February is the month of “love” but James says take advantage of today and share with that one, you really do love and appreciate them, don’t count on tomorrow.

Today, we may need to get our priorities straight. As I write this, I am in the process of getting my taxes ready, not because they are due in March (they are in April of course) but I need to be getting things together, so they are ready in April. So this March let’s consider what our priorities are. Consider putting Christ as a priority in your life. Evaluate what interrupts your prayer time? Do you make prayer a priority? Do you read your Bible, or does it get overlooked in the busyness of your day? Is there a relationship that you recognize needs to be reconciled? Can you afford to put it off tomorrow?

The next thing James points out is life is short, so what do you want to leave behind? I am guilty of worrying so much about the day to day if I am not careful, I miss the “big picture.” The big picture should include your final eternal destination, but also once you know where you will spend eternity, do your loved ones know? Can you rest today and find out tomorrow?

The last thing James points to is we will be responsible for our time. James gives a strong warning in verse 17, “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” This presents to us that the 86,400 seconds are more than just ticking away, they come with a responsibly to use them wisely. As I said, I am bad about putting things off, but we must make sure we prioritize what is important and put our priority on those that will last long after we are gone. So, let’s look at March as a time to see our time as a blessing, a responsibility and an opportunity because after all, this month we “lose” an hour!

In Christ,

Brother Alan

1 The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Jas 4:13–17.

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." — Psalm 51:10

Every year around this time, I take a deep breath, grab a stack of Velcro ties, and step into our tech storage room. If you’ve ever seen it during a busy ministry season, you know the truth: it gets messy. Between Sunday services, youth nights, weddings, and special events, cables get tangled, mic stands migrate to weird corners, and "temporary" fixes start to look permanent. We’re so busy doing the ministry that we don't always notice the clutter building up behind the scenes.

But once a year, I have to pull everything out onto the floor. I untangle the knots, test the frayed wires, and put everything back in its rightful place. It’s exhausting, but the first Sunday after that "deep clean," everything runs smoother. There’s more room to breathe. There’s less "noise" in the system.

As I was untangling a particularly stubborn knot of XLR cables last week, I realized my heart often looks a lot like that storage room.

Life happens fast. We move from one "event" to the next—work deadlines, family stress, health scares, and daily chores. Without realizing it, we start storing up "clutter" in our souls. We carry around old anxieties, "temporary" frustrations that have become permanent, and a lot of noise that makes it hard to hear God’s voice.

Worship is our spiritual spring cleaning. When we gather on Sundays, it’s our time to pull everything out onto the floor before the Lord. It’s a chance to say, "God, my heart is a mess, can you help me, Lord clean this up?

As we approach Easter, my prayer for you is this: that you can lay the “ knots” of your life down at the feet of Jesus. Know that it's already taken care of.

You know, we are introducing a new song called “The Blood,” and the first verse talks about how “everything has changed, and it's getting harder to recognize the person I was before I encountered Christ”. By the blood of Jesus, the cluttered corners of our hearts are cleansed and restored for the purpose they were intended for. Just as I cleaned the storage closet, and now I can easily navigate through it because it has been cleaned, as Jesus enters our hearts, he cleanses them for their intended purpose, which is to house the one true God, and to know Him intimately.

Much Love y'all,

Tyler