Yesterday my blog was dedicated to honoring my precious son aka son-in-law. As I called him a \u201cMan for all Seasons \u2013 Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall\u201d, I had this gnawing going on inside me. While Larry is a great guy and conquers each season with dignity, honor, and true grit, I had to step it up today to honor THE ONLY ONE Who is truly THE Man for all Seasons.
We marched through the Easter season recollecting Jesus\u2019 crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection. We recalled how he walked about this earth for forty days and then ascended to heaven where He lives forevermore. Even better than that \u2013 He lives within our hearts! That greatest story ever told continues to transform the world today.
Sir Thomas More was first called \u201cA Man for All Seasons\u201d by the 16th century philosopher Erasmus. As Lord Chancellor of England, Sir Thomas More, refused to agree to King Henry XIII\u2019s divorce of Catherine of Aragon to marry Ann Boleyn. Sir Thomas More declared that the marriage was against the will of God and could not be sanctioned by the Church.
The king was enraged and had More beheaded on the 7th of July 1535. Just before he died, these were the last words More spoke: \u201cI am the king\u2019s good servant, but God\u2019s servant first.\u201d Four hundred years later, in 1935, More was canonized a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.
That is both a tragic and inspiring story about a devoted Christian man who defied a king because of his conscience, his conviction, and his faith in God. Oh, that our leaders today would be so bold.
Despite the incredible attributes of my son Larry and the merits of Saint Thomas More including dying for his faith, the greatest story ever told is about the One and only person who can rightfully be called \u201cThe Man for All Seasons.\u201d He is Jesus Christ, who refused to bow before Caesar and would not allow Pontius Pilate or any of the others to have authority over Him.
I know that Jesus Christ is \u201cThe Man for all Seasons\u201d because of my own faith experience in all the seasons of my life.
1. Jesus enthusiastically embraced me since the EARLY SPRING of my childhood. I have known His tender heart for mine and He held me so closely letting me know \u201cI am His and He is mine.\u201d (Song of Solomon 2:16) \u201cLet the children come unto me.\u201d (Matthew 19:14)
2. Jesus eagerly embraced me since the LATE SPRING of my youth. \u201cThe Lord appeared to him from afar, saying, \u201cI have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore, I have drawn you with lovingkindness.\u201d (Jeremiah 31:3)
3. Jesus patiently embraced me since the SUMMER of my young adulthood teaching me that He is with me in the dark valleys AND on the mountaintops. Jesus said, \u201cWith man, that is impossible. But with God, all things are possible.\u201d (Matthew 19:26)
4. Jesus earnestly embraced me in the AUTUMN of my middle age. \u201cIt is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:8)
5. Jesus empathically embraces me in this WINTER of my senior age. (Jesus) \u201cI leave my peace with you. I give my peace to you. I do not give it to you as the world does. Do not let your hearts be troubled. And do not be afraid.\u201d (John 14:27)
6. And, Jesus will continue to embrace me in the Season of moving from this life on earth to my forever home with Him in eternity. \u201cWhat I\u2019m about to tell you is true. Today you will be with me in paradise.\u201d (Luke 23:43)
I pray for this kind of love relationship in all our lives. I pray that God gives us the grace to be men and women for all seasons. True in our faith and commitment in every season. To be such is not only good for our own souls, but it is also good for our troubled and often frightened world.
In times like these, we HAVE a Savior. We are NOT alone. He is our MAN FOR ALL SEASONS \u2013 all our yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows. And it won\u2019t be long until we\u2019ll forever be with Him. How could we possibly doubt? Please get to know Him. Let Him be your Man for all Seasons, too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yesterday my blog was dedicated to honoring my precious son aka son-in-law. As I called him a \u201cMan for all Seasons \u2013 Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall\u201d, I had this gnawing going on inside me. While Larry is a great guy and conquers each season with dignity, honor, and true grit, I had to step…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23854,23852,23853,23851],"tags":[23849,1210,1769,2055,1348,23846,873,267,7576,23844,40,3670,23838,19393,23847,23845,23848,23850],"class_list":["post-16173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jesus-man-for-all-seasons","category-sir-thomas-more","category-st-thomas-more","category-the-man-for-all-seasons","tag-autumn-of-middle-age","tag-blog","tag-christian","tag-commitment","tag-conscience","tag-conviction","tag-easter","tag-faith","tag-faith-in-god","tag-greatest-story-ever-told","tag-inspiration","tag-jesus-christ","tag-man-for-all-seasons","tag-sir-thomas-more","tag-spring-of-childhood","tag-st-thomas-more","tag-summer-of-adulthood","tag-winter-of-senior-age"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16173"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16175,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16173\/revisions\/16175"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}