Comments from Carolyn Carolyn Auman

Comments from Carolyn

Hello, Church Family! It warms my heart to address you as “Church Family,” for that is what we are. All of us had an original family...two or three or four or more! (I had 3 brothers, so we were 6!) At the present time we have our Benson Baptist Church Family, and yes: that warms my heart.

As I write this, we are in mid-August, and that means September is just around the corner. I've always loved that month because in our immediate family it is a month of six birthdays, but September is more than just our family celebrations, as important as they are.

September of 2020 means continuing to get used to a new school year even if by Internet, feeling the coolness as Fall makes its debut, looking forward to Thanksgiving (which arrives quickly!), choosing among three track options to attend on Wednesday evenings in our Spiritual Formation Courses, even buying new clothes as young parents are surprised at how much their children have grown when they try on last spring's school clothes! To the mall they go....

In our Friends Bible class, we often learn a new word from Greek or Hebrew, and I jokingly tell Dottie to add it to her list of new words she is supposedly making. Today I want to share an Indian word with you. It is bavith, and one meaning of the word is “refuge.” The psalmist called God his “bavith,” as David cried out in Psalm 142:5: “Thou art my refuge....”

In Fred Wight's book Manners and Customs of Bible Lands he writes: Because the Palestinians lived out-of-doors so much, the sacred writers were fond of referring to God as a “shelter” or as a “refuge” rather than as a “home.” Such expressions in connection with Deity are numerous in the book of Psalms and also in the prophetic writings (for examples, Psa. 61:3 and Isa. 4:6).

And isn't God our refuge, a “very present help in trouble”? The first verse of Psalm 46 tells us this is true as it says “God is our refuge and strength.” We need a bavith once in a while. Life is exciting and filled with wonder at times: however, life also is a challenge and tires us out once in a while! That's the time we need our bavith, and as September fills our days with much wonder and awe and things to say and things to do, let's remember to STOP: stop and spend a few moments in our bavith. That is the time we will fill our cup to awesome overflowing as we realize that as we walk through these busy days of September splendor, God is walking with us and will give us both the refuge and the strength that we need. (So, Dottie, add that Indian word “bavith” to your list).