I was walking hills I have walked many times, but each spring the colors burst upon my eyes in purple, violet, every hue of green, and white. With the spring rains, the creeks run fast, too, and I can see shad dart to dark areas under rock overhangs when my shadow falls on the surface of the water. The laurel is soon to bloom and the scents of trees and flowers are everywhere if one only observes the testament revealed.

This evening I was reading Paul’s letter of 2 Corinthians. He writes of his love for his people in chapter 3: “You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Cor 3:2-3, ESV).

I was thinking of our group of saints from class, too, of how Paul’s ideas in the 1st century are being played out today, still, as the church–so threatened by false believers, government persecution, and cultural secular rot–still endures, just as Christ promised. And I know how Paul felt, I think, to pour oneself out for people, to plant gospel seeds in them, to pray for God to give the increase, and for the Spirit to deepen them in the great things of God.

Paul calls them nothing less than his “letter of recommendation” in 2 Corinthians. Why? Because he loved them, he labored for them, and longed for God to do in and through them what only He can and does do–fashion vessels of redemption, and bring theological spring in times of secular winter, and know that God always does what is right.