Life Matters - May 14, 2025

‘’How can a man be born the second time when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’’ Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews and a Pharisee, had these questions after Jesus told him, ‘’Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’’ Born again. Born the second time. Nicodemus was understandably puzzled and not following Jesus’ train of thought. 

In an exhibition of His thoughtful patience, Jesus took the time to explain His thought-provoking glimpse into the spirit realm; He spoke of being born of water and of the Spirit, (the natural womb and the inner change wrought by the Spirit) ‘’That which is born of the flesh is flesh,’’ He said, ‘’and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’’ 

There was a time when I stumbled like Nicodemus. I was a young married man and my young wife and I had brought a beautiful baby girl into the world just a year prior. Our beautiful baby girl, just by being herself, had brought me face to face with my own inadequacies. She had upended my world. My life was never to be the same. I didn’t want to go back, but going forward meant being responsible for this ever-existing little soul that I held in my arms. As I gazed into the trusting face of our firstborn I was filled with awe, wonder, and a desperation that drew a whispered prayer from between my lips that poured out of my heart, ‘’God, I don’t know how to do this…’’ So began a search, a search that led me to repentance and finally to faith in Jesus Christ who shed His blood for my sins. That Truth became very personal to me as I knelt by my bedside in the middle of one peaceful night as the Spirit brought His longed-for peace to my heart and mind. My longing was satisfied at the same time as I longed for more. 

My questing brain seemed to zero in on Bible verses that I found hard to understand and as I read John chapter 3 one evening I fixated on verse 8 – ‘’The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.’’ I didn’t understand what the wind and the Spirit have in common, but as my brain fixated on the verse, two parts of sentences stood out as if in opposition to the peace I thought I had found in Jesus Christ. They were; ‘’canst not tell’’ and ‘’so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.’’ I had been told, by men whom I trusted, that ‘’no one can know where they actually stand with God, we do the best we can and then hope that God will be merciful to us.’’ To say you know, they said, is pride. I struggled. What they said kind of made sense. I stumbled with Nicodemus, whose question was about being born again. A ‘born again’ that I thought I now understand as my experience aligned itself with God’s Word. But now? What if I misunderstood? Was what I experienced all just a cruel illusion? Was it not real? 

My struggle was at its height when a friend asked me if I had heard about the revival meetings in Shippensburg every evening of this week? I had not. ‘’Oh yes,’’ he said, ‘’Abner Kauffman is preaching there this week.’’ Abner, being Sadie’s dad’s brother, was ‘’Uncle Abner’’ to us. 

By Friday evening my mind was made up. Sadie and I talked. We decided to go and by 7 PM we were seated with a room full of people whom I barely noticed in my nervous but hopeful eagerness to be a part of this revival meeting. Perhaps my confusion, or was it even confusion? could be cleared. My eager expectance didn’t even know what to expect. I almost wished I could ask questions. Not even my wife knew what I was struggling with. 

First we sang 3 or 4 congregational songs. Then Uncle Abner stood. He gave some introductory thoughts and then opened his Bible to the scripture text for the evening’s sermon. ‘’The wind bloweth where it listeth’’ he read, ‘’and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.’’ I was stunned by a sort of wonderful astonishment. 

As Uncle Abner expounded on that verse my understanding opened as a budding flower drinking in the gentle rain. I understood how we can’t see the wind nor God’s Holy Spirit but we can hear both. How God’s Holy Spirit never contradicts God’s Holy Word. How God speaks in a still small voice. I understood that, though we can’t see the wind nor the Holy Spirit, we can see the effects of both. I understood that though we cannot see the wind nor the Holy Spirit, both effect our feelings, the wind on the outside, the Holy Spirit on the inside in a way that effects our outside for good. The black cloud was blown away. The fog lifted. 

In the following three and a half decades, we absorbed Uncle Abner’s preaching many times though our lives parted ways for awhile. We moved to South Dakota where I pastored some years—until an accident almost did me in. Abner preached several times in South Dakota, including a couple’s night sermon. The last time I called to ask him for a preaching session he regretfully declined, saying he can’t travel to preach anymore. The time came when I asked him for a book review and he declined that as well, giving me the sad news that his eyesight was failing him. Within the year (2020) Uncle Abner was gone.  

A few years before he left us I got to visit with him in Florida, not knowing it was to be the last time. I got to bless Uncle Abner as we reminisced about one Friday evening many years ago. 

 Perhaps thankfulness gave ‘flowers’ to the living.

Life Matters!