Some things, you cannot predict....

Others...you most assuredly can.

I was fortunate to teach middle school for 34 years in Worthington, Ohio. When I mention that my students were twelve and thirteen years old, many people express sorrow, but I really loved those young people.

It always amazed me how teachers and other adults were so quick to predict their futures. This one will never go to college. This one will go to Princeton. This one will be a doctor. These predictions were, and proved to be, at best, guesses that often did not turn out as expected.

The same was true of people when I was in high school. Yearbooks offered predictions based solely on what peers thought of folks based on popularity or success at age 18. I don't know about any of you, but I was a total nonsensical silly person at that age. My yearbook photo could have included the caption: 'Headed nowhere in a hurry!' 

So all of these kinds of predictions are doomed to be soundless and often incorrect. 

There is, however, one area of prediction that is solid and true, and it is a prediction that has eternal ramifications. There is only one way for any person created by God to find salvation and eternal life: Jesus Christ. Anyone who would choose to ignore this truth is operating on a dangerous path of ignorance, one that can only lead to an eternity apart from God, from Heaven and from many loved ones, forever.

Forever is a really long time. Many are repelled by the notion of Hell. Many churches absolutely ignore even mentioning such a place. People don't want to hear that God could allow for such a destination. God, however, works endlessly to try and make this reality a non-factor in our lives. He makes Himself known through the beauty of His creation, through the relationships that He created and through His words in the Bible and His Word who came into this dimension with a message of forgiveness and love. 

It really comes down to a choice each person makes. Reject the plain truth, available to all, or accept it as a free gift of grace. The Holy Spirit will take care of the rest. He will guide and transform you from the day you call on the name of Christ Jesus.

It's an air-tight, one hundred percent prediction that how you choose will be a decision you will live with long after you leave this planet. PLEASE. 

Praise our God!

Be aware of your "use by" date!

We are, all of us, Christian or non, born with a 'use by' date. We
don't have any bargaining power when it comes to the end of
our brief stay here on this planet. Unless we purposely make
our own exit, something I would never encourage, we will come
to an final due date.
 
Those who are Christians, who are re-born into Christ through
faith and grace, are well aware of this end. Others may see
an end point as random, fate-driven, haphazard... not something
planned by a God who is sovereign, in complete control.
 
My point, here, is that our lives here are as a vapor, here one
day and then gone. While it is important to make plans for
those we leave behind, we ought to bear in mind our own
future. Within all of us, whether we want to admit to it or
not, is the fundamental realization that we are eternal. Oh
our atheist friends, our nihilistic friends and others will claim
that it does not matter, that they do not care. They know,
nonetheless, that this is a self-deceptive lie.
 
It really comes down in the end to where each of us will
spend eternity. Deny the living God, deny the Lord Jesus
Christ, deny the salvation offered to all who are deserving
only of God's wrath, and one sentences himself to a
never changing existence without the presence of God.
The descriptions of such a choice are very troubling.
I would assert that each created understands this. One
cannot fool oneself without sinful pride and the help of the
Evil One. 
Just be careful! Your terminal breath can come
suddenly; that last moment may be too late, even for a
God who was willing to give His beloved son to die for
each of His created.
 
Wise up, kneel down and ask Jesus into your hearts while
you still can! Why not do it right now!!!

From briefest moment to eternity

to me

Time is certainly fascinating! One thing that strikes me as an older fellow is how my own perception of time has changed over the years. It's as if time speeds up the older we become. Remember when you were a child how summer seemed almost endless? Remember how driving trips seemed to last and last until one day you realized how very short they really were?

Well scripture suggests that God is not burdened or limited by time. One day is likened to a thousand years in our time perception. I have read a quote that suggests that...all time and space is laid out before the face of God. This would mean that He is capable of seeing time in its entirety; from beginning to end and all that is in between. This ties in with His omnipresence and omniscience.

Our time here on earth is likened to a vapor. We are here so very briefly and then home, again. This brings to mind the realization that we are, therefore, somewhere else for eternity. My apologies to the nihilists out there.

In one amazingly crucial and blessed moment, if we ask with all our heart to belong to Jesus Christ, to believe on Him, and trust in Him.... we can be assured that for time eternal we will live in the presence of God instead of the absence of Glory. One small moment in the baptismal or on our knees in a quiet place can bring purpose, hope and blessings beyond our ability to comprehend.

Grasp that moment, won't you. Do not wait because there may be a time when that moment of deliverance disappears. Do it for yourself, those you love, and most importantly, for our Lord and King, Jesus. He is waiting to hear your prayers!

Praise God!

okay...so...WHERE IS HEAVEN?

There's a question for you! When one considers the following: aborted babies, maimed and

killed soldiers, poverty, hatred, bigotry, crime, depression, suicide, mental illness, physical

illness and death...seems like we can say with a great deal of confidence that heaven is not

here on earth!

English Standard Version 

² In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?^{[a] John 14: 2}

If one took a survey asking people to point towards heaven, I am guessing that the vast
majority would point upward. Now this is quite subjective, for someone in Santiago, Chile
would surely be pointing in a different direction than someone in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
I once camped out in the Black Hills of South Dakota and saw, for the first time, a true
starry night! Phenomenal! But I didn't see heaven. I am certain that no one in the International Space Station, nor anyone using a high-powered telescope nor an electron
microscope has seen heaven.

So, does this mean that there is not heaven? ABSOLUTELY NOT! We are limited by
the dimensions of space, time, etc. as human beings. Jesus appeared suddenly among
his followers after the Resurrection, but I wouldn't suggest trying to walk through the
nearest wall. We, simply, are limited in many ways. GOD is not! Heaven can be anywhere
that a sovereign God chooses it to be. Because God is truth, we can believe, without
reservation, that He is in heaven.

Heaven is the place where God resides. He is the absolute Lord and King of this place,
joined at His right side by Jesus who intercedes in our behalf. There are angels, there,
and saints who have come before us, praising and glorifying God. 

Heaven is the place where we long to be!  The very essence of our existence, from conception
to the final breath we take, yearns and longs to be with God and to live in His presence.
It is what we were made to do, the place where we were meant to be. It is our HOME!
When I consider that there are people who live their lives rejecting God, rejecting Jesus
as the only possible pathway to salvation and choosing to live their lives out pointed in
the direction of eternity outside the presence of God, I literally shudder. Those are
lost people that we need to be praying for. Pray that it isn't far too late! Praise our gracious
God!

TRUTH or Consequences

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.

Well , I will admit, up front, that I am small-brained. I have taken Philosophy courses
that dealt with the concept of truth and that didn't go so well. I have listened to tapes,
read books and engaged in discussion with those smarter that I, and I always come away
shaking my head, trying to clear the fog.

So don't read on if you expect anything other than my feelings. 

I believe there has to be A TRUTH. For there to be a whole bunch of truths, I think
that fits into the relativism category, each one real because it is what that person
thinks is true, sounds like mental anarchy. Truths aren't the same as feelings,
opinions, preferences, etc. Truths aren't grey areas somewhere between black
and white. I guess I am saying that for anything to make sense there has to be some
absolute truth. 

It is my belief that God is truth because I do not believe that he is capable of being
untruthful. I believe that the Bible is the true word of God. If He is truth then His word
is truth. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He, is therefore, also the truth.

My concern, here, is the consequence of not accepting God, rejecting Him and His truth.
God did a very brave thing, a loving thing. He created us with free will; the right to choose
to accept Him or reject Him. We all meet people who decide to believe in their own truth;
people who, in a real sense, are "being their own God."

Wow, I think that is eternally dangerous. Rejecting the truth, rejecting Jesus, rejecting
the unearned gift of salvation  through the grace of God, means that there is an eternity
facing that person. An eternity in the absence of God. I'm not the hell fire and damnation
sort, but it is a fact that Jesus did not skirt the concept of Hell. he spoke often and
clearly about those who would choose not to believe in Him. There's no attempt to sugar
coat things; it's gonna be eternal, and that's a long, long time. That's why I pray
daily and work daily to try and reach those I love who haven't accepted Jesus. He is
the way and the truth and the life. It's an eternally important thing...the truth. God.
Praise Him!!