Paul is in prison, his missionary work has been arrested, his preaching has been silenced. His earthly pilgrimage is drawing to a close; his warfare is almost over. His last words are being penned.  He is writing to young Timothy, his son in the faith,

I feel that the last drops of my life are being poured out for God.  The hour of my departure is at hand. The glorious fight that God gave me I have fought, the course that I had set, I have finished, and I have kept the faith.  The future for me holds the crown of righteousness, which God has promised.

        Paul has been delivered for a brief span from the lions mouth, but if ever a man needs fiends with him, now is the time.  One senses his loneliness as he confesses,

Demas, loving this present world, I fear, has left me, and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus is away in Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me now.

        Added to the absence of friends is the burden of opposition of his enemies, and those who misunderstood what he was doing.

        Everyone in the providence of Asia deserted me, he writes. Alexander, the coppersmith did me much harm. At my first defense no one took part.  All deserted me.

          But there was one encouraging thing for us to remember when things are not going well.

        For said Paul, But the Lord stood by m and gave me strength to proclaim the gospel, so I was rescued from the Lions mouth.

          Following all this, Paul makes a personal request to Timothy,

      Do your best to come to me as soon as you can pick up Mark and bring him with you and bring my cloaks and my books.

Paul was a scholar in the end.

          A writer has suggested that the cloak was probably the only cloak he had for the winter cold in prison.  Said he, It was probably wet with the brine of the Mediterranean, white with the snows of Galatia, yellow with the dust of the Ignatian way, crimson with the blood of his wounds. Fifteen hundred years later William Tyndale, imprisoned in a cold damp cell in winter wrote, “I entreat you, send me the things I left a warm cap, a warmer cloak, the one I have is very thin, a woolen shirt of mine, but above all my Hebrew Bible.”

          Paul needed things like these, but most of all companionship. You come and bring Mark with you.  In the context of these requests there is a non-descript phrase that must not be missed.  It is, COME BEFORE WINTER. Paul's request is marked, Urgent!!!  Perishable!!!  Now!!!

          COME BEFORE WINTER because when winter sets in the season of navigation will be closed in the Mediterranean.  Ancient Mariners considered the danger time between November 11th and March 5th. Paul must have remembered his own voyage when for fourteen days they were lost, without sight of sun or stars, at the mercy of wind and waves.  If Timothy does not come now, he may not come til spring and that will be too late.  The time of departure is at hand, makes it imperative that he come now.

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF ALL OF THIS FOR US TODAY as winter comes upon us?

          Well, we not only have the natural seasons of winter.  Winter is also a season of the soul when life can become cold, barren, and bleak.  And as one must prepare for the natural winter season, so one needs to prepare for the winter of the spirit.

          We all prepare for the cold of winter, change our wardrobes, make certain we will have heat and other necessities.  This is why Paul asked Timothy to “Bring my cloak which I left at Troas.”

          Every great opportunity of life has its limitations in time.  To wait, to put off may mean winter will come and it will be too late.  Winter always leaves graves of opportunity.  The seed not sown in spring cannot be gathered at the fall harvest.

          A Saxon king once put down a rebellion.  He placed a burning candle in a castle window and sent out a message to the rebels.  “If you surrender and repent while the candle burns, you will be forgiven and set free.  After it goes out, it will be too late.”

          Life’s opportunities are like this.  Always time is passing.  A little boy was given a clock for his room that would strike the hours.  One night he heard the clock striking 13, 14, 15, etc.  He ran out of the room, calling out, “Mom, Dad, it’s later than its ever been before in all the world.”

          Well, it’s always going to be later than it has ever been before.  It may not be winter yet, but like the natural season it is coming.  Paul’s message is “Get prepared.”

          There are some wise old proverbs like, “Dig the well before you are thirsty,” and “Don’t wait til winter comes to get in the wood for the fire.” Paul is facing winter and he isn’t waiting until it comes to get ready.  Even now he is in the winter of the spirit.  “Already my life is poured out on the altar, and the hour of my departure is at hand,” he writes.  But he is coping.  He has what it takes to get through the winter to the time when Spring breaks through, whether it is in this life or the next.

          SO WHAT DID HE HAVE THAT ENABLED HIM TO COPE WITH THE WINTER OF THE SPIRIT?

          First, he had conquered fear and anxiety about life.  Some years ago a Gallup Poll asked, “What is your basic feeling about life?” Sixty per cent of the young people answered, “Fear.” This would also be true of adults.  What this means is that the fear and anxiety about things that can happen to us, over which we have no control, is a terrible burden to carry.

          I remember one afternoon one of our sons, about the age of seven at the time, failed to come home from school at the usual hour.  His mother waited in fear and anxiety for a long hour or two.  Finally, he arrived home.  “Where have you been?” she asked.  He explained that Robbie, his little friend, took him to his choir practice a the Baptist church.  “Did you tell them you were a Presbyterian?” she asked.  “No,” he said, “Robbie said that if I told them I was a Presbyterian, they would kick me out.” There was anxiety that afternoon at home and at school.

          Anxiety is a vague feeling of uneasiness, apprehension of danger, or misfortune, something you can’t put your finger on.  Like stage fright...what are you afraid of?  Soren Kierkegaard said, “Anxiety is caused by nothingness and this nothingness confronts man as something.”

          Well, how do we get rid of this nothingness?  Jesus said, “Be not anxious about your life, what you shall eat, nor about your body, what you shall put on.  Your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” He is saying, trust Him.   The Christian way is to find the opposite of fear and anxiety in God’s love.  John says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.”

          We do not conquer fear and anxiety by willpower human bravery, or stoic courage.  The positive power that overcomes anxiety is love, because anxiety is a broken tie, and a disturbed relationship.  Love is a restored relationship.

          So when we walk with Christ in trust, knowing he loves us, and we love him, anxiety diminishes to the degree in which we are one with him.  This is why Paul could cope with the winter of his soul and spirit.

          Listen.

The Lord stood by me and gave me strength.  He has already rescued me from the lion’s mouth.  The Lord will rescue me from every attempt to do me harm, and keep me safe until his heavenly reign begins.

Paul came before winter, “I have run the race, finished the course, kept the faith.  The prize awaits me, the crown of righteousness.” With this mind-set there was no room for anxiety or fear.

          But there are other fruits of love which kept Paul coping with winter.  There was forgiveness.  One of the cleansing powers of the spirit and mind of a person is loving and forgiving others.  Listen to Paul in the winter of his soul, “The first time I had to defend myself, no one was on my side--they all deserted me.  God forgive them.”  Isn’t that a beautiful spirit.  It reminds us of Jesus on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” That’s Paul!  That should be us!

          Listen again to Paul’s request to Timothy.  “When you come, pick up Mark and bring him with you.  I can certainly find a job for him here.” It’s important at this point to recall the time when Paul and Barnabas planned to visit places where they had preached.  Barnabas wanted to take Mark but Paul disapproved of taking him because he had deserted them earlier.  But Mark had become such a useful servant that now Paul has forgiven him, wants him with him again.  The affection, mutual trust, and love that brought these two friends together had blossomed out of forgiveness.  And in Paul’s winter of the soul, Mark’s presence would be a blessing.

          No break in human relations can be healed, no soul can stand accepted before God without forgiveness.  No trait of character is so essential for achieving personal security, marital happiness, or peace of mind as forgiveness.  No medicine is so powerful an anti-toxin for a broken spirit, or hate, or resentment, or divisions in the world as forgiveness.  Paul’s assets for preparation for winter included his friend Mark, a gift of forgiveness.  Forgiveness is one of the graces that grows best in wintertime.

          But there are other graces that we must cultivate before winter comes.  What Paul was in the winter of life he had prepared for in advance.  What we are when winter comes depends on the quality of life we bring to it.  The Duke of Wellington said, “The Battle of Waterloo was won on the cricket fields of Eton.” The secret of Jesus’ power in Gethsemane can never be understood until we go back to his home where he was subject to his parents, where he increased in wisdom, and in stature, and in favor with God and man.  You have to go back to his years of preparation and his public ministry, filled with prayer and compassion.  Every day, every act every thought, every influence, every decision counted in his faith, courage and trust in the Winter of his life.

          Old Rip Van Winkle would say as he took a drink of whiskey, “I won’t count this one.” But it did count.  Whatever we do counts for something, good or evil.  The Winter of the natural season into which we are entering and the Winter of the Spirit, are not enemies, and are not destructive unless we enter them unprepared and have no resources for dealing with them.

          Always beyond Winter is a beautiful Spring, filled with hope and aliveness.  But we can’t wait for Spring and pretend that winter is not coming.  Dr. Clarence Macartney, a great preacher of a generation past, gives us a sobering picture. He imagines (it’s not in the Bible) that when Timothy received Paul’s letter, he knew he must go but first he must take care of some things.  There are important things to work out in Ephesus and Miletus.  When he finishes these matters he starts for the coast to get a ship and go to Paul.  When he arrived at Troas, he was told “there will be no more ships til April.” He waits impatiently, rebuking himself for not coming sooner.  He takes the first ship to sail in April.  He finally arrives at the place where he assumed Paul was imprisoned.  When he inquired of the guard about Paul, the guard cursed him and ordered him to leave.

          Finally, he came to the house of Claudius.  “Where is Paul?  I must see him!” he said.

          “Paul, didn’t you know?  You must be Timothy!  Paul’s last words were, “Give my love to Timothy.  I know he will come.”  Can’t you imagine the pain and regret in Timothy’s mind and heart if this had happened?

          So Christ calls us, needs us. “Come Before Winter,” before it is too late.  Come and bring a cloak for the needy, your time and talents, and money for the work, gifts of love for your neighbor, forgiveness for those who have hurt you, and love for Christ.  Above all, bring yourself.

          “Come before the haze of the Indian summer fades from the fields, before the November wind strips the leaves from the trees, before the snow lies on the uplands, before the sea of opportunity is blocked by the ice of delay.”

          It is a great thing to have everything prepared for winter, for the testing times.  This is illustrated for us by this story.

    An old Scotsman in a glen in the Highlands was desperately ill.  One night a great storm arose.  His daughter came to his bed to comfort him.  With a Bible in her hand, she said, “Father, shall I read to you from the Book?”

    “No, Lassie,” he said, “I thatched the roof before the storm began.”

That’s coming before winter!

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