Living in Northwestern Pennsylvania has many blessings, but one of the greatest for me is seeing the contrast of seasons that we experience here. When spring first begins to tease us of her arrival, we notice every crocus, robin, and for my family, the first chirps of the “peepers” in the bog behind our house. We forget how quiet winter is until spring awakens. Not only do the sounds change, but the colors as well. There is a gray winter sky that settles over the area and we forget just how blue a summer sky can be. There’s a greater vibrancy to the greens of spring than those of even late summer.
For Miracle Mountain Ranch, summer promises wonderful sights and sounds, which will be followed none too soon by the amazing colors of fall. Fall’s display is our reminder of snow soon to come and the preparations needed for the winter which looms ahead—and the cycle begins all over again. Though I have not always paid attention as I should, I have witnessed nearly 200 of these seasons. Each arrives with its miraculous impact and ends with the promise of the one to follow.
We hold tightly to promises. A man or a woman’s integrity is evidenced by how they “keep” their promises. God always keeps His promises. Joseph confirms his confidence to his family that God would keep His promise by returning them to their land. The land which God had given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was the “Promised Land.” It would be 300 years from the conclusion of Genesis until the beginning of Exodus when the children of Israel would begin this journey home. For his first 50 years, Joseph’s life was characterized by his trust in God to be faithful to His promises. He died at the age of 110, and we have little knowledge of Joseph’s first 60 years, except that his character was consistent with that of the second half of his life (Hebrews 11:22). Abraham remained faithful in trusting God for His promises.
The Christian life is one trusting in the promises of God. Why do we believe our sins are forgiven? God said that if we would confess them, He would forgive them. Why do we believe in the promise of eternal life by placing our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior? We believe it because it is what God promises in John 6:40. God is a God who keeps His promises.
The Gospel is the good news that God fulfilled a promise He made in Genesis 3:15 and has made a way to reach us. God entered the world through Jesus Christ to provide a salvation we could not provide for ourselves. The Ranch is committed to spreading the Gospel message—to not only share with others the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but to remind believers to keep these truths ever before us and to walk in the confidence that we serve a God who keeps His promises.
Matt Cox
Executive Director
