A brief run into dollar general, and we know it's October.
Because all over the front aisles, we've got smiles full of fangs, and door hangs made of spider webs, and just one aisle over is enough candy to rot your teeth for months, or at least keep you up all night.
And we'll fight over who's gonna dress up, how much we spent, and how women's costumes aren’t always innocent.
And remember that one time when you couldn't find
The right color of pants to match the mask, and so you stepped up to the task and fashioned your own costume of a name you'd change every time you were asked.

Commercialization of evil, and I agree to some extent. The money spent on plastic smiles and fake blood could feed plenty, but I still see value in this season, if we're willing to see past the sugar to the reason. See, an All Hallows Eve recognizes an All Hallows, and for this reason, I share what follows...

This one might surprise. You're not here because of you.

For years, many have shifted and steered the wheels and sails of your life, and brought you to where you are. Like assembly lines to a car, and now all parts assembled you begin to resemble the makers who poured their lives out for yours.

An amazing force, the history of choices on top of choices, the echoing chorus of voices who sang lines that someday you could live. Impossible to give an exhaustive list, here's a few you shouldn't miss:

I see Noah being willing to do what's never been done. While the world focused on fun, he listened to God on His throne. I see Abraham stepping out into His own, not even knowing how many seeds His seeds have sown. I see Moses with tablets of stone, and even though David was prone to moments of serving self – his life left a wealth of testimony to God's goodness.

Daniel and the prophets knew what they were doing, as they were issuing in a new Kingdom, launched by the birth, the life, and the death of Christ. The price was paid, and groundwork laid for New Creation.

Chances are you've got a grandparent who knew every line of those stories like the back of their hand. They took a stand when the cost of a stand was great, and it wasn't fate that led you to be where you are. Why you've come this far on the backs of sacrifice and pain, or redemption from shame, or maybe even taking on a new name. Because following God is not about fame. It's not about mansions and crowns, but it's about turning the ways of this world upside-down.

So that hate becomes love, and “down here” comes from “up above”. That the broken could be healed, and Christ be revealed. That grace could be given, and the dying could start living. So that hopeless could become hopefilled, and filled to overflowing simply by knowing the good news.
So that old becomes new, and so that includes you. So what should you do?

Listen and remember.

Remember things like character and pride, like looking past the outside and living a life that's True, with a capital “T”. Hard work that's worth more than a paycheck, but having respect for what you've done. About more than having fun at the expense of others, but actually loving our sisters and brothers. You're a product of the life of Christ, and your story was bought with a price, not so that you would be owned, but so that you would be free. Completely. Are you living that way?


As we take a day each year to honor those who've come before, we'd be poor to ignore the freedoms they've fought for us to live. The same freedoms we're able to give to those who're following; allowing their lives not to be chained down by sin, but helping them to begin on the most firm foundation they could ever know. The Love of God, and New Life that helps them to grow.

And know, that someday as we're living this Love that transforms the world,
someday our boys and girls, just might begin to paint
the picture of their remembering, and include us along the saints.