These Days and Ahead

Written the Fall of 2018:

The sky is blue, the sun is bright, the air has a coolness to it, the leaves are falling and the coffee is good. What a good day!   

Then I read the paper – ugh!  My, if we aren’t a mess!  The price of steel is way up, there are continuing lawsuits against the pipeline, the caravan from Honduras approaches, the political charges and counter charges rage, Saudi Arabia murders opposition (at least it appears that way), and Brexit is up in the air.  

And then there is the GCC and the District issue.  

Yet, life is good.  

And still there is pain, loss, and fear.  We live in a mess of our own making due to innate sin, personal sin and the sins of others.  And the holy, infinite, eternal God opted to engage us and the mess in order to rescue some and bring them into a world that God had originally created and willed.  Because of the life, love and sacrifice of Jesus, we have hope!  We have reason to engage any day with joy and anticipation that our efforts are not in vain.  And in any day, if one of His – saved by grace from self and the curse – He is present giving direction, giving strength, and giving helpers.

So – it is a good day!  Let us be glad and rejoice! 

And today:

Here we are three years later after…

a successful transition from a denominational church to an independent,

the nation-building “failure” in Afghanistan, 

a worldwide pandemic, 

a volatile and disputed election 

with a “terrorist attack” on the people’s house,

spending piles of money we don’t have, and???

YET – God is Good, God is Great, and God is Glorious!!!

God’s will, plan, and workings march forward to His predetermined end which will be the exaltation of Jesus as Lord and King of all, with some of mankind transformed to live forever in His presence in the fullness of joy, in perfect peace, in agape love, in beauty and in His glory, giving Him glory!

Those who get to do so, do so because of His payment of their debt, His mercy and grace, His coming and calling, and His kindness.

Those who get to do so, do so because they:

I Peter 1:8, Whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory [9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.]

Their response to God’s work is 1.) a love for Jesus – for God, 2.) a belief in who He is and what He did and does, and 3.) a deep and passionate joy and worship of Him – ongoing!

So – you in???