Dear <<First Name>>,
Something Ed Gungor said at Renovatus Church recently has stuck with me: "The past is not the past until God redeems it." By that he meant that a painful event cannot be put behind us completely until God works his transforming magic on it. Until then it haunts our present and continues to affect our choices, moods and actions whether we are aware of it or not.
In linguistics we talk about two kinds of past events that have two different "aspects". "Perfect aspect" is the term we use when "the past is not the past" to indicate that something that started in the past continues on into the present. For example, "I have failed" implies that I still consider myself a failure. On the other hand, a past action that has no impact on the present (when "the past is the past") is described with what we call "perfective aspect". For example, "I failed" implies that I see it as a one-time event that is over and done with.
Maybe you see where this is going. When God redeems a past failure, loss or disappointment, he changes its aspect. It no longer affects our present, and we can truly put it behind us. Not only that, but our suffering, in God's hands, becomes building material for the future He wants to give us.
As if this email isn't already nerdy enough, I've turned the abbreviations we use for these aspects (PERF for perfect and PRFTV for perfective) into acronyms to help me remember them. When God is allowed to work in our darkest places, Painful Events Revisited Frequently turn into Pain Redeemed, Forgiven, Transformed and Valuable. (I think I need more language data to work on.)
Happy Valentines Day!
Barb |
| Great news from the Nzanyi translation team! Tomorrow (February 15) their completed book of Luke will be dedicated and distributed in Adamawa State in Nigeria - the first Scriptures ever published in Nzanyi! Pray for a safe and joyful celebration of this milestone. |
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