The following article was written for the Buffalo Center Tribune for Febraury 15, 2023. To God be the glory, always!

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Have you ever had something and then lost it, and then had to cope with not having that something? Sure, you have. In some cases, it can be disturbing or frustrating. Sometimes it can be scary or just downright annoying. Just recently I recovered from my second bout of Covid. My first time was just minor symptoms that lasted only a few days. This time around it was similar except for one annoying difference. This time around I lost my sense of taste and smell. I had heard the stories of what that was like, but it was hard for me to imagine. Now I was there and let me tell you, not tasting my coffee was super annoying. Thankfully this loss only lasted a day or so. Now I am tasting every delicious sip of my coffee.

Then there are those moments when your brain seems to freeze up and you lose some information you once had. I was recently responding to an email to someone and wanted to give them my cell phone number. As I started typing my brain froze and I could not remember the numbers after my area code. There was a moment of panic, but thankfully that only lasted a few moments. And then there was last week. I was sitting at my computer wanting to type an article for the paper and I had nothing. I did not even have a first word to type. But obviously that passed since you are reading this article.

“Wow pastor, you still have nothing.”

Well, here’s something – In Christ, you never have nothing.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)

I just love those words because it points to “something” that I have that will never be taken away by the failings of my body or the fallenness of this world. Through God’s amazing grace, He pours His Holy Spirit into His people so that they can see the truth; the truth that through Jesus there is forgiveness of sins and thus the sure and certain hope of eternal life. You may lose everything and everyone in this world, but when you have the Holy Spirit, you never have nothing.

So, if you feel lost or feel that you have nothing, turn to God and know a love like none other. Turn to God and place your trust in Him. Turn to God, for He is everything. And it is a “everything” that will never be taken away or lost. To God be all glory, in Jesus’ name, Amen.