A New Birth

Early this morning, while Liane and the kids were still asleep and the house was quiet, I was lying in bed thinking about the birth of our first son, Johnny. His entry into this world was such a struggle. Liane labored through the day and night, and into the early hours of the next morning. She was exhausted. For a while it seemed like things were progressing well, but then progress stalled. Our son was stuck. Then the baby began to show the first signs of distress! Liane was rushed into the operating room for an unscheduled c-section.

There were a few tense moments right after the doctor pulled our little Johnny from out of his mother’s womb and the nurses worked feverishly to clear his little airway. Then I heard him begin to cry, and a few seconds (or minutes) later (I’m really not certain which), a nurse placed our baby boy into my arms for the first time. A new birth! I felt things I’d never dreamed of, and I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was forever changed. There was a new light in my life.

















John Luc Bowles
1995 - 2001

If it wasn’t for my son’s short life, I wouldn’t be the man I am today, and I wouldn’t be delivering this message now.

I was thinking about another birth this morning—the birth of a new era. These are serious times we are living in; the world is in anguish, so to speak. So far in the first decade of this millennium, we’ve experienced a new level of terrorism since September 11, 2001, the Asian tsunami, Katrina and the other hurricanes that have ravaged the Gulf coast and Florida, the Pakistan earthquake, war in the Middle East, runaway debt, and skyrocketing gas prices. All of this is enough to cause despair if we place our hope in material prosperity.

These are serious times indeed, but I believe they are coming to an end. Not the end of the world, but the end of a Godless age. I believe there is a new time coming, the birth of an era of peace. It will be a time when people believe and trust in God. People’s desires will no longer be on acquiring wealth and fame, on easy living and personal entertainment. The main focus will be on taking care of each other and on leading holy lives. I believe it will be a time like none before, a period when the world will be very much like the way it is supposed to be. Oh, there will still be suffering and death—it’s still a fallen world—but people will understand the nature of their existence, and they will have peace and love.

These were my thoughts this morning. And then I read today’s Gospel reading:

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn,
while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.
When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived;
but when she has given birth to a child,
she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy
that a child has been born into the world.
So you also are now in anguish.
But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice,
and no one will take your joy away from you
On that day you will not question me about anything.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”
—John 16: 20-23

I believe there is a new birth coming, the birth of a time of peace. But remember, before every birth there are labor pains. The turmoil and the anguish of our world the last few years are just the beginnings—the worst labor is yet to come. We should not despair over the times to come. Instead, right now, all of us should ask ourselves if we are living for the right reasons. Every day, are we taking the eternal view? Are we loving each other the way Jesus loves us?

All who have ears ought to hear.