Remember

Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. —Psalm 90:1-2 NIV

March has always seemed like a good time for reflection. It marks the beginning of spring, and usually at least part of the month falls during Lent. It’s a time when spring cleaning can begin in our homes, and often spill over into our hearts and minds. My Facebook memories in March are filled with Lent and Easter memories and reflecting on the life of Jesus. The memories from the last five years also include a lot of challenges from the pandemic. We moved to where we live now the week that the pandemic hit our area. I have to say I would not recommend moving the same week that a global pandemic arrives in your area. We only moved about 7 miles from our last house, but it seemed like we had moved into an alternate dimension. We had intentionally planned to use up as many household supplies and pantry items as we could before the move, so we would have less to pack. We would still have easy access to grocery stores, so we planned to just buy new food and supplies to take directly to the new house. If you remember what grocery stores were like at the beginning of the pandemic in your area, you are probably chuckling imagining how our supply plan quickly unraveled.

That week, I went from days of packing and moving, to figuring out new software and how to live stream with the pastor I was working with at the time. Oh that week was not for the faint of heart. Neither was the week after that. Or the week after that. Or the week after…well, you know what it was like.

I was definitely unprepared for this new challenge in life and ministry. I am older than people think I am. (I’d put my age in here, but why give the scammers one more piece of information, right?) I’m in that age group that started seeing the rollout of technology in their teenage years. I still like to do a lot of things with pen and paper, like write music. Technology is never my first thought when I start thinking about how to complete a task. So I can tell you honestly, I learned all the tech for the pandemic-imposed ministry shift by the grace of God. It did not come naturally, it did not come easily, it did not come without a lot of gray hairs, loss of sleep, or churns of the stomach, but by the Spirit of God giving strength and wisdom.

So, when Facebook recently announced that they would begin deleting new live video content after 30 days and archived live content within 90 days of notification from Facebook, it prompted a new wave of reflection for me. Soon, the “live” evidence of that season of my life will be deleted, except for some files I saved along the way. Hours and hours and hours of work and learning will fade into a memory. You won’t be able to watch our first-ever livestream, or see how we adapted to new software several times, or expanded our capabilities and equipment set-up into other worship spaces, rather than stream from a small room with someone’s cell phone. You won’t be able to see numerous worship services that were streamed live or premiered as live virtual worship nights.

Should we just forget it all? Does it matter? Did anyone even notice the first time around?

But be on guard and watch yourselves closely so that you don’t forget the things your eyes saw and so they never leave your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren. —Deuteronomy 4:9 CEB

No. Yes. Maybe??

Don’t worry, I’m not as upset as it may sound so far. And thank you for coming along with me on this reflective journey. I know for many of us, we want to put that whole season behind us. Maybe we feel like if there’s no virtual “paper trail,” we can forget and move on. I know the powers that be at Facebook are just trying to reduce the amount of videos they store on our behalf, but this decision sure is erasing a lot of history. Just as there is a time to weep and laugh, mourn and dance, there is a time to remember and a time to move on. I think we’re in a time of both. Let me be clear, it’s not the work that I did that I don’t want to be forgotten, it’s the work that God did that I don’t want to be forgotten.

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” —1 Samuel 7:12 NIV

I mentioned Ebenezers in my first blog. Ebenezer means “Stone of Help.” Samuel made a monument—raised an Ebenezer—to remind the Israelites that they had seen the Lord’s faithfulness so far, and that they would see it again. For me, each of those live videos is an Ebenezer. Each is a reminder of what God was doing during that time. Lamentations 3:22 says “Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed” (NIV). I sure felt like I would be consumed during that very hard ministry shift. The gravity of what people all over the world were experiencing was overwhelming. Trying to figure out how to move forward in ministry and technology was overwhelming. Throw in a handful of surgeries and more biopsies than I can count on my fingers and toes, and I was really starting to feel pressed. But, as 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 says: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (NIV). God was with me, with us, through all of it. And he has redeemed so many things from and through that experience.

God wastes nothing. No trial, no pain, nothing. As I have started on this new season of my life, I am seeing the truth in that. All the technology I painstakingly learned then, is serving me well now, and I’ve been able to help others with what I’ve learned as well. I didn’t know how to build a website before that season, and now I have this site, which includes lots of things I learned as well!

But then I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago. —Psalm 77:11 NLT

So, what I really want to say is, Facebook can erase the videos, but it can’t erase the goodness of God. I will raise my own Ebenezers, so his goodness and grace of that season is not forgotten. This has led me to share some of the songs I recorded for worship during the pandemic on YouTube. Each song is one more stacked stone, and I will be adding more soon. As I have watched them again before uploading, I have been reminded of God’s presence during that season. I still don’t love having an online presence, but I wanted to remember and never forget that God moves, even in the wilderness. My Bible reading for today included Judges 2:10: “After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel” (NIV). With remembrance already on my mind, this verse struck me as particularly sad this time. A whole generation who did not know the Lord as their dwelling place, their constant sustainer, protector, and redeemer. It’s hard to imagine. I realize that a few hundred videos disappearing from Facebook is not going to keep a whole generation from knowing the Lord or what he has done, but it might keep them from knowing some of the great things he has done.

So I encourage you to keep remembering and sharing your own Ebenezers. Let us make sure that people around us now and generations to come know our stories of God’s goodness.

Amen.