Take Ten with Pastor Don Podcast

December 20, 2023

Welcome to Take Ten with Pastor Don. I’m Don McGarvey, pastor of the Troy Mills Christian Church in Troy Mills, Iowa.

(The following is the script for the December 20, 2023 Podcast, Take Ten with Pastor Don. It is the second and final podcast for the series on “Seasons.” The remaining “keys” will be posted here, on the blog, “IN PURSUIT” over the next few days. Any suggestions, or comments would be most welcome.)

Last time we talked about the topic of “seasons.” I was inspired by the fact that we were knee deep in the Christmas season and traditionally, this season always seems to bring with it changes.

Many of us change our eating habits, you know…Christmas cookies, fudge, and other goodies. We have more dinners and parties to attend than we do the other 11 months of the year.

We shop more for Christmas. We take time to drive around and view Christmas lights on houses near and far.

It’s a wonderful time of year but it also comes with many different things.

I started to go through a list of nine “keys” or “helpful hints” designed to help us move through the various seasons of our life. Not just the holiday seasons. Many of us will experience a change of season that involves more things than the weather.

We start new jobs, there will be new financial challenges, new schools, new co-workers. Many will put together a list of goals they want to fulfill in the coming New Year.

I’ve decided to only talk about a few of those keys. I will write about all nine of them and put it up on my blog in a day or two. You can find my blog by going to DonMcGarvey.com. My blog is called, “In Pursuit.”

I started off last time by mentioning the first “key” to help navigate new seasons.

It was “we must accept responsibility to do our part” in this new season.

Too often we talk about God leading us into new seasons, which is true, but then there are some who just sit back, waiting for God to do what it is they are supposed to be doing. We have a role to play in every new season that comes along.

We must be “all in” for things to work well. I have a friend who has been successful in many fields over his one hundred years. One time he mentioned to me how he was only “knee deep” in this new adventure. But there was a sparkle in his eye so I knew more was coming.

He simply said, “I dove in headfirst.”

So, whether you dive in headfirst or gradually work your way in, we all must take responsibility for our part in this new season.

Another “key” that I think is important is, “we must be flexible.”

Now being flexible is a challenge. Most of us enjoy the safety and comfort of routine. As a kid growing up, I knew Mondays were laundry and usually fried chicken for supper.

If mom was doing the laundry and if the chicken was frying, I knew it was Monday.

But sometimes a new season demands a new routine.

In Joshua 3, Joshua and his officers went through the camp of the Israeli’s encouraging them to prepare for moving into the Promised Land.

One of the things they said to the people was to be prepared because they were now going to travel a path that they had never traveled on before.

The Israeli’s had been doing the same thing over and over for 40 years but now was a new season. It was a path they had never been on before. Like our new season.

From now on, Mondays were going to meatloaf for supper and laundry might have to wait until Thursday. It’s a new season and we need to be flexible as we move forward in it.

The next “key” is to not forget the basics. The basics never change.

The basics are things like loving God, loving our spouse, loving our kids, and loving ourselves.

As God leads us into new seasons, He won’t change the basics. We need to continue to be firm in our disciplines.

The basics are the tools that have we have used to get to where we are. And the basics will continue to be tools to take from where we are today, to where God wants us to be in the days ahead.

The next “key” is that we need to hang on to the past promises of God.

God has promised many things to us. A new season doesn’t negate those promises. A new season simply may mean that God is going to allow you to head in the direction of those promises from a unique perspective. Perhaps even utilizing new disciplines and new relationships to help guide us forward.

Sometimes the promises of God take more than one season to come about. Sometimes those promises are spread out over several seasons but we need to hold fast to what God has spoken and to the dreams God has placed in our hearts. God will be faithful in every season. That won’t change.

The final “key” I want to talk about today is that we need to allow the peace of God to sustain us.

New seasons all bring new challenges. Some even come with stress, some come with unique challenges that are designed to stretch us, and to remind us that God is with us.

One of the great Scriptures in the book of Joshua is verse 9 of chapter 1. Listen:

Joshua 1:9 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Don’t be afraid of going where you’ve never gone before. Don’t be afraid of the changes that are looming on the horizon. God has already made a way for you, He has a plan, and He will go with you each step of the way on the journey in your new season.

Well, that’s our time for this time. Thanks for taking the time to listen and be part of the Take Ten with Pastor Don podcast.

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Thanks again for listening, and God bless you!

(These “keys” are taken from the book, “God’s Timing for Your Life” by Dutch Sheets. It was written in 2001, published by Regal Books.)