-Assessment Time

"Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming, If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him." (I John 2:28-29; read also 3:1-9)

Hey Gang: Read that verse again.  John says, "Abide in Him" always, so that when He appears we do not have to shrink into the shadows because of the things we have been doing with our lives.  In essence, John is saying that when we claim we are children of God, we need to look a heap different than when we were­- without Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

There is no greater miracle in the world than to see a drunk from skid row suddenly come to the realization there is a God who loves him and stands ready to fix and restore his live and even use them to His glory. 

His life was a mess.  He had drunk away his family, his home and business and his health but one day when he was on his back in a gutter with an empty bottle, God spoke to him: “Harold, I have something I want you to do for me.  I want you to get up out of the gutter, clean yourself up and prepare to go into all the land and preach My word”.  The transforming power of God reached deep into his gizzard and he became a powerful man of God to those who also found themselves in the gutters of this world.   

In this passage of Scripture John gives us a panoramic view of what it is like to be a child of God and fully engrained in the family of God. This is a passage that we should take-a-peek at periodically and check our commitment level to Yeshua.  In John 2:29 we read that we should “…be confident and content in our walk with God.  Are you confident and content this morning?

In verse 3:1 John tells us that we should enjoy God's love.  In essence God says, "I claim you".  Notice, in verse two He says, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be ."  Is it not awesome, and sometimes a wee-bit hard to totally comprehend, that God said, "You are my body, my family, I call you my children?”

It would have been nice, if John would have put a period at the end of this verse and left it but, he did not.  He went on to say, "No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." (verse 9). 

I believe the key word in the Scripture of the day is “practices".  Do we sin? yes, "…all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23), but practicing sin is a horse of a different color;  Scripture says, "... practice righteousness!!

Blessings,

Gramps  

Did You Know Not Everything Is God's WIll?

“For what I am doing, I do not understand’ for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate”.  ”For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.  For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want” (Rom. 7:15, 18-19).

Hey Gang:  If there is anything I have learned in my 84 years on this earth is that life is not just a series of random freak accidents.  Paul wrote: “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate” (Rom. 7:15).  But in the very next chapter he writes, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).

I was going through my archives the other day and came across an article that had no title and no author, but it rang my bell and screamed “Blog”.  In this day when everything that can be shaken is being shaken makes one wonder, “Is there any sanity left on earth?” The answer? Probably “yes”, if you have Biblical understanding of what Jesus meant when He said, “When all of these things begin to happen, look up for your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28).

Now, here is a thought for you to chew on this morning, our lives are not totally unplanned, nor without meaning.  God knows precisely your every move.  If He knows every hair on your head, He surely knows about the things that move and shake us.   He began weaving the tapestry that would become your life even before you arrived.  Think for a moment about the bad and happy times that you have been blessed to experience that has brought color into your existence.  Do you have the truth fixed firmly in your heart and mind- that nothing can come into the life of a child who is walking with God without God’s permission?   In essence, everything is “Father-filtered”.

Now wait a minute, Hainley.  Are you saying God allows bad things to happen to us?  “Yes!”  These, the very things that you wish were mere mist and removed from your life, are often the very things that God is using to shape you and make you into the bond servant He wants you to be.”  

Does that mean that everything that happens to me in life is God’s will?  No, I do not believe that!   When God created man, He put a thing into our very souls called self-will and gave us the power to go our own way, do our own thing and totally reject His open arms policy.  The Suffering Servant Scripture makes this point abundantly clear: “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6).  

Paul said, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (I Cor. 11:1).  But he also said, “I do the very things I hate” (Rom. 7:14).  Note, he did not leave it lay there but went on to give us the antidote to being an overcomer: “Wretched man that I am!  Who will set me free from the body of this death, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!   (Rom. 24-25a).

The point: the world is filled with bangles and beads, frills and fads, and Satan is forever bringing new ways for us to disobey, as Eve did in the garden, and for us to choose to follow the evil one’s path away from Christ as Savior and Lord. That my friends, is certainly not God’s will!!

Year’s ago, when I was on the cold roast beef, mashed potatoes and peas circuit, I always made it a point to pray that God would give me something fresh to share with the group.   On one such trip I stopped at a Burger King to grab a snack. I noticed a Star Wars advertisement in very bold print: “YOUR CHOICES DETERMINE YOUR DESTINATION”.  That rang my bell but, when I was back on the road again a thought entered my mind that the saying was incomplete; it should have read “YOUR VALUES DETERMINE YOUR CHOICES WHICH DETERMINE YOUR DESTINATION!”    I wonder where that thought came from? A saying I have used many times.

Blessings,

Gramps

When Was the Last Time You Said, "Thank You Abba' Father" From the Depths of Your Soul?

“Let all the earth fear the Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.” “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.”  “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness” (Psa. 33:8, 12, 18).

Hey Gang, Did you know that our Founding Fathers openly recognized that God was the source of a successful nation? They were aware of our need for God, if we were to be a healthy nation.  George Washington said, “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.”  They knew that, if the nation was going to work, its people needed to voluntarily live by God’s rules. 

My Bride and I have been truly blessed this year as we have traversed a devotional book compiled by Dr. Richard G. Lee, titled In God We Still Trust.  It consists of quotes from many of our Founding Fathers, and others who have succeeded them, openly acknowledging that a nation without God was a nation that would soon join all the civilizations that have gone before that did not recognize this truth. 

On October 3, 1863, in the midst of the civil War, President Abraham Lincoln called Americans to a National Day of Thanksgiving and Praise.  He proclaimed “No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things.  They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.  It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.  I do, therefore, invite my fellow citizens…to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our Beneficient Father who dwells in the Heavens.

He went on and implored the Lord to heal the wounds of our great Nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and Union.” 

Henry Ward Beecher wrote, “The Bible is God’s chart for you to steer by, to keep you from the bottom of the sea, and to show you where the harbor is, and how to reach it without running on the rocks or bars.”

In his 1815 Thanksgiving Proclamation, President James Madison reminded his audience:  “No people ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate the goodness of the great Disposer of Events of the destiny of nations than the people of the United States…And to the same Divine Author of Every Good and Perfect Gift we are indebted for all those privileges and advantages, religious as well as civil, which are so richly enjoyed in this favored land”.

Times have changed.  We may be the only culture in the world that openly acknowledges God in our Constitution, on our money, and on Thanksgiving, but refuses to allow God to be named in any of our public intuitions.  As a nation, we are working hard to push God out of our lives. Ignoring God is not unusual, it began in the Garden of Eden with the statement, “You surely will not die, you can be just like God”.  The history of the world is really the story of people finding new ways to reject God.  

My prayer for you this day is that you will turn your face towards God from the depths of your soul this Thanksgiving.  That you will do more than thank Him for the good things in your life but give your heart to Him with a new and deeper commitment and that Thanksgiving day will be a daily ThanKsliving event in your life and not just a one day passing celebration.

Have a Blessed and happy Thanksliving Year,

Gramps

Are You Thankful To God?

“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another is psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father” (Eph. 5:18-20).

Hey gang, Have you ever thanked God for the miracles and blessings that He freely gives to you, even if you are not even aware?  In my travels I picked up the following story that I especially like:

It seems a person died and, soon after arriving in heaven, in his orientation he was scheduled for a tour of heaven. The guide was very clear in explaining what each building was and many housed neat things that God had provided for His children; but the guide avoided one long building that set off by itself.  Several times the new-arrive-e asked what was in that building, but the guide ignored him.  Finally, at the end of the tour, the guide asked for questions and, of course, the new arrive-e once again asked, “What is in that building?”

Within the building were long lines of shelving, ground to roof, covered with paper bags tied with ribbons.  When asked what they were for, the guide said, “Each person has a bag here that has, within it, the blessings God wanted to give the recipients but they choose not to accept.  

We are getting close to that day designated as “Thanksgiving Day.  It is my sincere opinion that designating a day called Thanksgiving is, in reality, designed for those who are non- believers.   Why do I say that?  Because Paul teaches us “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” I Thess. 5:18.

Example.  Several years ago, I was pulling my recreation vehicle home from a weekend in the woods. We were on a back road and I was doing around fifty miles an hour when a car pulled out of a driveway, about five hundred feet in front of us. 

Corrective action preventing my hitting the car, but shortly after the driver slammed on the breaks and began to make a left turn off the roadway.  There was no way in the world I was going to keep from plowing into that car but somehow, I do not have a clue how, I missed the car.   I have thought about that incident each time I drive by that spot and thank God for what He did that day.

Have you ever taken the time to sit down and make a listing of the times God blessed you with a very special blessing?  Have you ever considered the times He may have saved your life and you knew nothing about it?  Are you one who tends to use the phrase “Boy that was a lucky break?”

If “…the will of God in Christ Jesus is to give thanks to God in everything” every believer should give thanks and be grateful at all times.  Gratitude is a feeling of thankfulness and appreciation of everything that Almighty God is doing in our daily life. 

So, young colleagues, may I suggest that, sometime in the leisure of your Thanksgiving celebration, take your Bible and concordance and do a word study on thanksgiving and gratitude.  You will find many such references in both Old and New Covenants - for it is God’s will. 

Have you recently turned down any of God’s blessings that He designed especially for you?

Blessings,

Gramps

"The Three Minute Temptation Buster" Part 3

“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be temped beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (I Cor. 10:13). 

Hey Gang, Continuing the story of the tough-hombre.  In the month or so after I loaded the tough-hombre on a bus to send him to the facility where he would pull his time, he was never out of my mind.  A seed had been planted and was growing - we should purchase a large house and take in four boys who needed a shirt tail to hang onto into. 

But the months turned into a year and nothing was happening until a very strange thing happened one day when I was cutting the grass.  A neighbor, who I did not know, approached me out of the blue and said, “I understand you are going to sell your house!”  If so I want to buy it!”   It reminded me of the gent who prayed for an answer from God and, when he received it, he said to the Lord, “If that was for me, give me another shot.” 

We did not ask for another shot but, we did pray that if that was a sign that the time had come for us to pack up our family and place ourselves totally in God’s hands, He would provide the finances to make t`he move.  At that time income tax returns were taking several months but miracle two occurred when our income tax was returned two weeks later.   

We accepted the sale of the house and income tax return to be a clear enough message that we should begin packing.  (Note:  Did you know God knows how to close doors as well as open them?)   

But, this morning I want to do some soul searching with you.  In the past several weeks, since Mr. Donald Trump became President Donald Trump, the prophecy gurus have been very busy.  I confess some of the articles are ‘pie-in-the-sky type’ and have found the circular file.  But one that caught my attention that is a composite of many, 16 trusted Christian teachers who are, and have been saying essentially the same thing…that we have more reason than at any other time in history to believe Christ’s return could happen in our day.  

Does it make me feel a wee-bit apprehensive to say that? Yes, I have heard similar messages all of my 84 years on earth.  But I have studied the prophetic word and read what many of the gurus have written.  These are listed in no particular order and this is most certainly only a partial list.  I have read and studied the writings of Dwight Pentecost and Dr. John F. Walvoord, both who spent many years in research and teaching at Dallas Theological Seminary. 

Other familiar names, who have dedicated their lives to studying the mysteries of the Word and sharing their findings with those who also seek to know God’s time-tables, are Dr. David Jeremiah, Billy Graham, Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, Dr. Tim LaHaye, Thomas Ice and more recently Bill Koenig, Anne Graham Lotz, and Robert Jeffress.

Now hear this my young friends! Each has said, in one way or another, that conditions of our day perfectly parallel the Biblical narrative for the end time (as it was in the days of Noah).  There are specific signs that Jesus gave, during the Olivet discourse, especially in Matthew 24 and Luke 21.  And we are the only generation to see the return of the Jews to their land and restore their Hebrew language after two thousand years.

As I close this trilogy, I would suggest you take the words of an old country preacher who cried out,  “Something is fixing to happen and I am fixen’ to be part of it”.  Make sure you are part of it!

Blessings,

Gramps

"The Three Minute Temptation Buster" Con't

“This is the confidence we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us and if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him” (I John 5:14-15).

Hey Gang:  Do you have confidence before Him?  Have you asked Him for something according to His will?  Have you planted a seed this day that will grow into a beautiful flower?    Throughout the New Testament we find Jesus words, “Ask and I will give you the desires of your heart”.  What are the desires of your heart?  

And now for the rest of the story!  As a government employee working in a government facility with government controlled kids, there was the ever present “BIG BROTHER” awaiting to pounce on anyone who approached a kid with an olive wreath in their mouth, no matter if their hearts desire was to find something that would fill that empty place in their chest cavity. 

Let me put some meat and potatoes on that statement.  It was a rainy night in California, which was very unusual for that time of the year, when the boys in blue brought one of those tough-hombre kids into the facility for holding.  He was well known in the system, as one who had earned the reputation to be very close to the top of the toughest of all time hombres list.  

We had a very special two-cell unit in a part of the facility that was separated and especially secure.  It consisted of a cell of steel inside a cell of re-enforced cement with provision for me to be able to care for his needs without opening the steel door.

For the sake of time and space, let’s jump to the chase of the story about this dangerous hombre.  As a senior counselor, it was my job to check the tough-hombre every half hour.  On one of the rounds he asked for something to read.  It was the first time I knew that he could be civil and accepted it as positive.   

Now, I confess, he had given me enough grief in his short tenure with us that when I gave him a Gideon Bible it was not for the right reason, and, he did not accept it for the right reason.  On the next check he was up to his knees in Gideon Bible paper.  On the next check- round I found the very tough-hombre sitting against the wall with a piece of Bible paper in hand.  And then it happened, he asked for another Bible.  You see he had only half of the story and he desperately wanted the other half. 

That night Satan lost one of his very tough-hombres when a hard-heart heard the voice of Jesus and said “Yes, I would like to give you a try”.  Several days later tough-hombre was transferred to another facility where he was sentenced to spend ten or more years for his transgressions, but God- had something else in mind for him! The door opened for his released in two years and returned to his old stomping grounds- but for a different reason; he returned as an evangelist to the kids that were traversing the same wide road that held him in bondage. 

You see, God changed the heart of that tough hombre that night before my very eyes to show me that all of those tough-hombres, who had passed through my life, could traverse the same road that Larry traversed- if I would follow Jesus mandate and, if I would recognize that they too were not mere case files but real alive living creations of God.  I began to realize that night that God was leading me away from locking up bad hombres to bringing light into the lives of children who have not had a fair shake in their lives.

With your permission I want to add one more chapter to this story.  That I will do in the third chapter of “The Three Minute Temptation Buster”.

Blessings,

Gramps

"The Three-Minute Temptation Buster"

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever” (John 14:16)

Hey Gang:  I want to share a piece of wisdom that I have acquired on the roadways and by-ways of this world: Temptation is a way of life!  Now, I am sure that is not a new revelation to you.  And temptation leads to which dog you will fed today – the white dog or the black dog.

Bruce Wilkerson, in his book The 3-Minute-Temptation Buster made a point that I can identify with: “Each time I am confronted with temptation my emotions send me messages of internal agitation”. 

While working in a detention facility in California, I had occasion to work with some very tough hombres and enjoyed chewing the fat with them.  You see must of these hombres had never just sat down and had a true conversation with anyone.  I wanted to know what was going on in their heads, as well as their hearts. So, each night, after we had put the kids down for the night, I picked one to help and went on a fishing expedition. 

top-ten list of the ‘toughest dudes’ I saw go through Juvy while I was there. He was one of the top dogs in a gang and, it was rumored that he had probably taken a life or two of a rival gang member.  At that time, with the Watt’s riots still fresh in everyone’s mind, it was open season on rival gang members.  Kind of like Chicago today. 

One of my favorite questions was, “Have you ever been to church?”  This I followed with have you ever heard of the man called Jesus?  Most did not have a clue who Jesus was.  From there I did some probing to see if they ever felt love, not surface sex-type love, but love from deep in their gut.  The response was usually the same.  It was the same look you might have, if you had been locked in a cellar for all of your life and knew there must be something better out there, but you had not had the luxury of experiencing it.

I asked these questions setting the lads up for this question, “You have done some pretty nasty things in your life.  Did you ever feel deep in pit of your stomach that what you were doing was wrong?  Did you ever wish you had not done them?  Did you ever dream that one day you would find a rainbow or pot of gold and your life would be more than the pain and agony that has been your life?

Tragically most would say, when I was a little lad I would dream of my mom and dad together in a house on a street where we were a happy family; but I don’t dream of that anymore because I know it is an impossible dream.

When I asked them, if they knew in their heart that what they were doing was wrong, the response was always the same; “Ah, ya, Man!  Something in here (chest cavity) let me know.”  But, they also said, “As you grow older that voice is weaker and weaker and it is easier to hurt people without feeling sad or guilty.”

In my three-year tenure in the Juvenile Hall I had conversations with hundreds of tough dudes, more kids asking these same basic questions.  Nearly all made my top-ten toughest hombres list, for you see every one of these bad hombres had a heart that had been destroyed because no one had asked these same basic questions when they were forming for life who they would be.

Most of these bad hombres were in my section awaiting parole-violation hearings and placement to another facility, where they would be locked in cages with the intent of fixing them.  In my question sessions with these bad hombres, I heard each screaming:

“I am somebody, I am alive, I am not a case file in your file cabinet, I have feeling too deep for you to understand because you have no desire to dig deep into my soul and find out what makes me tick.  We had a saying in the Juvenile Hall, we could tell how tough a kid really was by how long he cried at night!

Last night, I had a problem finding a comfortable position for my arthritic body.  On many of those nights there is a parade of’ tough hombres’ that marches through my brain, there is Fritz, Ted, Swan, Lon and Dennis.  There is Michael, Larry, Dennis, Michael and the list goes on.  I wonder if any of them found that rainbow or Jesus.

Tune in next time- for the rest of the story - but then again perhaps you do not want to know the rest of the story!

Blessings,

Gramps

Are You A Planter?

“Give and it will be given to you.  They will pour into your lap a good measure – pressed down, shaken together, and running over For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” Luke 6:38

Hey Gang:  Did you ever read a book penned by human hands that, when read a second time you found a totally different picture being painted?  Have you ever thought how very amazing it is, that you can read the same passage in the Word of God ten days in a row and get a different understanding of what God is teaching us on each reading?  But there is a prerequisite to that wondrous blessing, - we have to be part of God’s intimate family.

A college professor announced to his class that they will use the Bible, in their course of study, but only from the literary standpoint.  He further stated that it is a wonderful book with wonderful stories but that is what they are – wonderful stories. “I get no special messages when I read it”.

After class a young lady came up to him and informed him the Bible is love letter to his children and you must be part of the family to understand what He is saying.

How many know that we have no idea when God is going to plant a seed through us?  Several days ago, I ran into an acquaintance of yesteryear who astounded me with something he said. He said, “You probably did not realize it at the time, some years ago, but you said a kind word to me that not only changed my day but also planted a seed in my heart that has grown steadily since that day”.

It drove home the point that we are Johnny Appleseed’s and plant seeds wherever we go - some good, some neutral but others are life-changing seeds. Notice, in the Scripture of the day, the word measure.  I believe it is one of the more important words in the Bible for it tells us we are responsible to give and, it is in the measure that we give that God gives back to us.

Paul wrote, “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully”.  Now notice Paul’s next words, “Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:6-7).  

So, my young friends, are you a Johnny Appleseed and have your bag of seeds attached to your hip?  There is no greater joy than to have someone from your past come up to you and say, “Hey, did you know you planted a seed in my heart that changed my life?” 

Blessings,

Gramps

what Is Your Definition of a He-man?

“But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (I Tim. 4:7-8).

Hey Gang, Wow!  I have watched this lad for the past sixteen years and he has continually popped the buttons from my shirt with pride.  Qualifying to participate in the State Cross Country finals is indeed a goal to work for, if you are a runner.  He ran the race of his life yesterday when he competed in the State Finals for High School Cross Country (Lower Peninsula). He finished 40^th in his Division of 250 runners!  Now, what that means is he is he has worked very, very hard!  

That also means is he is a disciplined runner who placed the goal of reaching the State level by diligently running daily, no matter what the weather.  (And, as he ran his miles each day, he had a companion, his daddy, on a bicycle or car depending on weather) who rode shot gun for him every single day).

Now, I want to tell you a little about the ‘price of success’ for this family.  We learned early that he was on the Autism spectrum, Aspergers, which can be an all-consuming malady.  But, he was blessed to be born into a home with two parents who made a vow that autism would not control and destroy his life.

As he ran this race of his young life, there were really three people running in his shoes, a Momma and Daddy who have been models of sacrifice, since he arrived on this earth.  His mother is a self-studied authority on this malady, not the medical part, although she has spent countless hours in research of how to beat this dreaded malady, but the part that requires the total giving of the heart to assure that no matter what the price, she will continue to give.  There have been no races, no baseball games, no basketball games, no soccer games when his mom and dad where not there.

Yes, I am proud not only for his success in the physical areas but equally proud of him in the academic areas – today inducted into the National Honor Society - social areas and most of all - that he loves the Lord and has committed his life to following Jesus where ever He leads him. 

In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses gave us a model of how to raise our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.  He wrote: “These words which I am commanding you this day shall be in your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gate” (Deut. 6:6-9).   

Notice the prerequisite that makes this code of how to raise your children effective: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (vs. 5).   

The race yesterday was the culmination of sixteen years of sacrifice, tremendously hard work, successes and failures all wrapped up in a huge ball with a ribbon around them called sacrificial love.  If every child in America had the same sacrificial giving parents, we could turn the Eagle Villages into ski lodges.  Why am I so proud, because this young lad is my grandson, Brandon, who has been covered with that sacrificial love.

Well done Marjorie and Jim! 

 

Blessing,

Gramps

This World Is Not My Home!

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.  For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God” (Rom. 8:18-19) (sons in verse 14).

Hey Gang, I have been on this place called “planet earth” for more than 84 years and know that I know that in the Lamb’s Book of Life there is a date at the end of my name that tells my arrival day in glory.  To that I say, “whoopee!!”  And, as I have entered that period commonly referred to by man as “the Golden Years”, which I have learned really means “Golden Years” for the medical profession, I have done a heap of research of where I am going.

Years ago ran into a chap who said he never thinks about tomorrow.  He was a verbal Christian but by his fruits I wondered.   His rationale for not being concerned about tomorrow was Jesus’ words found in Matthew 6:34: “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself.  Each day has enough trouble for its own”.

But, as I read and read that verse, I find that it needs to be wrapped in the context of what Jesus was teaching at that moment.  Lesson number one: Jesus said don’t worry about the mundane things of this world like eating or drinking, or what you with clothe your body with, I will handle those things.  I do it for the birds and you are “worth much more than they” (vs. 25-26).

I believe the key to God’s cure for anxiety (worry) is clearly stated in verse 30: Jesus said, “If I clothe the grass of the field ill I not clothe you, “You of little faith”.   You mean clothes are a faith issue?  I thought they were a credit card issue!  In verse 33 Jesus clearly gives us the antidote for worry: “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

So, how does this fit into the message of the day “This is Not My Home”?  As I mentioned above, I am 84 plus in years and the largest portion of my life is history.  I have two possibilities as to how my life will end here on earth; my thumper can stop thumping, or Jesus will come and I will meet Him in the sky!

Either way I have checked it out very carefully; I am going to go someplace and spend eternity with Jesus.  And how long is eternity?  I do not believe there will be time in heaven, therefore, there is no answer to that question.   It just goes on and on and on and on and on and on, etc. 

A young lad once asked me, “Mr. H, how long is eternity?  Tough question for a lad who has no frame of reference to hang anything spiritual on.  I said, “Sandy, you have been to Sacramento, a hundred miles from here.  If you took your tooth brush out of your pocket and scrubbed that six-lane highway up and back ten times it would be drop in the bucket in eternity.

THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME I A ONLY PASSING THROUGH.

Blessings,

Gramps