NEWSLETTER

MARCH 2026 HARBINGER

“We all experience loss. It's part of being human, part of the experience.
It’s what also gives us richness and wisdom.” –Kevin Klink

Recently, for one of my classes at MTSO (Methodist Theological Seminary of Ohio) I was asked to listen to and read up on a very creative man named Kevin Klink. Kevin Klink is a hilarious performer, writer and author of many plays, including 21A and Lloyd's Prayer and five books including
The Dog Says How and Holiday Inn. What most people love about him is his storytelling ability, some say he is a combination of a comedian homegrown from Minnesota with the imagination Dante and wordplay of Shakespeare.
And in his stories, they reveal both life’s humor and its troubles. For example, he was born with one disabled arm and then a midlife crisis motorcycle accident paralyzed the other. He makes jokes about that.

But without getting too deep into his life story I wanted to reflect on something he had said, something that I believe will help guide our church and community. “We all experience loss. It's part of being human, part of the experience. It’s what also gives us richness and wisdom.” Now when he talks about loss and how it's part of the experience of being human, I can’t help but think of the fall in Genesis. How with the introduction of sin and death, both were huge losses. Human beings went from walking with God, having a special union with the Almighty, able to interact with him on the daily, to one day…nothing. Now a days if you want to walk with God, people are having to seek him out, calling out to him, begging for his guidance and love.

Recently I have been forced to reflect and essentially live through my losses. Sometimes we are able to gain a loss or weakness; but because of family, church, jobs and home; we are able to use these things to soften the blow due to the stability they create. But what do you do when your whole foundation, in which you pull strength from become sinking sand before you? How do you operate in loss when it feels overwhelming like actual quicksand;  engulfing all that you hold dear, overwhelming you with the crippling fear of loss and having to face the unknown?

Now for the sake of privacy, I will not share all that I am dealing with, but I will say it’s being forced to create new; or rebuild what is left, is hard and a bit depressing. However, God always offers opportunities to help with the remodel when things crumble. In fact, sometimes it’s God himself that orders the demolition of “sound” stability, for the purpose of rebuilding something much grander, something more suited to last. So even though a person is left in the rubble and when you look around and see only what you have lost; God offers us the richness of brokenness to see how much we need him. It's joy that is found amongst the rubble not happiness. Through this joy that we are able to endure the un-comfortability of sadness and loss; but also, we are able to be inspirited to build bigger, without expired expectation and restriction of our past.

This year as we head into the lent season and eventually into Easter, let us be honest to not only ourselves but to God on how much we truly need him. Then seek him out with all we have! Lent is the opportunity to prepare our hearts (clean them) so we may fully experience to loving sacrifice of the cross on Easter. May the Lord allow you the strength to operate in your loss, in order for you to gain the humility to need his guidance.

Blessings, Pastor Stephen Flores