God and I have been discussing what I should share with you this

morning...on this last Sunday of the year.

I’m thinking maybe something like eschatology - you know, the study of end things - since this is the end of a year - or something equally as high and holy as that.

God, however, keeps bringing me back to earth and telling me to talk about something I know about - something I can share with you that you will easily understand.

For several weeks, I’ve been praying about this Sunday morning, and asking God for his help - and he keeps bringing me back to the same thought.

COMPOST PILES

Talk to them about compost piles. I’m thinking to myself - and I even mentioned to Him - that doesn’t sound very holy. Especially for a Sunday morning following a very holy Christmas season in this church!

A Sunday morning when we have remembered ones in our family who have died this past year...

A Sunday morning when we will celebrate the remembrance of Jesus’ last supper with his disciples in the Upper Room..

But the thought just kept coming back...It’s the compost piles they need to hear about today.

And I could hear him saying to me - "if you will just trust me.’

So, I went to my computer - and began to do a word search in the scriptures. (I’ve heard Bruce say he does that, so I thought - If it works for him, it will work for me too!)

After probably 3 - maybe 4 seconds, my word search is complete! You already know the results ---- compost piles are not mentioned anywhere in the scriptures!

And then I hear His voice again...very clearly saying to me,

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths."

And so this morning, will you join me in asking that the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart will be acceptable in his sight - because he is my strength and my redeemer.

Over the past four Sundays we have been led to some very close - very personal experiences with the people of Christmas. We have journeyed with Mary and Joseph, the wise men, the shepherds, and the angel Gabriel. We have listened as Gabriel shared the news with Mary that she had been chosen to be the mother of Jesus, the Christ.

We heard Mary ask a few very important questions about how this news could be true. After Gabriel had answered her questions, we still see and hear with amazement Mary’s simple reply - "I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever He wants. May everything you have said come true." We were reminded that we cannot join God in the impossible if we are still clinging to something here.

We saw the shepherds - plain - very ordinary shepherds. We were taken back to that night when the stars shone so brightly - and the shepherds were compelled to go and see... and their lives were changed forever because of what they saw.

And then we shared Mary’s thoughts - her fears - her joys - her questions - her profound and honest words to Luke that there will be times when your greatest joy will also be your greatest pain

We have been on quite a journey with these "Christmas people". Let me ask you....

Were you able to make the journey with us as Bor. Bruce so clearly led us from God showing Gabriel the one he had chosen - all the way to the manger?

Probably many of you did. Perhaps there are some of us who traveled most of the way - but felt the need to take a side road when the journey became too personal - too painful - do you know that God stayed behind with you till you were ready to rejoin the journey? I can tell you that He did.

I think there are probably those here who never even took the first step on this Christmas journey.

For whatever reason, you just couldn’t find the joy this year. Maybe, as I said earlier you were unable to join God in this seemingly impossible journey because you are still holding - still clinging to something here - or something in your past.

In the scriptures there are countless people just like you and me who did the same thing. To find joy, they had to give up some things - Psalm 51 is the story of a well-known king who desperately needed to reconnect to the source of his joy.

READ PSALM 51: 1-4, 7-12

You see, like many of us, David knew the source of joy, he had just let some things pile up that kept him from being able to fully experience the joy. As a young man, David wasn’t ready for God to change his life. He didn’t even recognize there were things that needed to be changed. Maybe some of you are at that place - life is going along relatively well for you - you just don’t see the need for a change - yet. If though, on this last Sunday of a very stressful year you find that you have lost or misplaced your joy - If you find yourself wishing for - but not able to attain that joy that David realized he was missing...

If you are just waiting till Tuesday so you can start all over again on a new year...

If you know in your heart there are things in your life that need to be changed...

Those "things" may not be as drastic as David’s sins - or they may be.

Can you identify with David in Psalm 42:12 where he says, "Problems far too big for me to solve are piled up higher than my head. Meanwhile, my sins, too many to count, have all caught up with me and I am too ashamed to look up."

David found himself there.

Maybe you are there too.

Here’s the Good News!

David didn’t stay there.....You don’t have to stay there either!

Listen to this story about another woman named Mary from a book called Let the Earth Bring Forth, by Mary Warren. Her story begins with these verses, "I am utterly spent and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart." Ps. 3:8

Mary was the mother and Lindsay, a hospital chaplain, was her husband and father of their seven children. Over a period of time and circumstances the family, a staunch Christian family had broken into pieces.

As often happens, fear and uncertainty and a feeling of separation from all that she held dear took over Mary’s life. She too had lost her joy.

But listen to this part of her story which tells us how her hope was born anew - through a pile of garbage - a compost pile if you will. You thought I’d forgotten about the compost pile, didn’t you?

READ PAGE 21-22

Mary’s rebirth - her joy came back because of seeing what the creator God is able to do with a pile of garbage. Composting is a process that takes time. It doesn’t just happen overnight - not for Mary, not for King David, not for you or me. It is defined as a dynamic process which will occur quickly or slowly depending on the process used and the skill with which it is executed.

How can you apply that definition to what God wants you to do this morning? The new year starts Tuesday - your new life can begin today. God is waiting to begin that dynamic - changing process in your life this very morning.

Before you come to the Lord’s table this morning, I would just ask you...what is it in your life that you would trust Him to take and change from garbage to good?

WYPWM......

Sunday, December 30, 2001

Kathy Holler, Minister of Special Ministeries

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas