IT WASN'T THE END!

I was typing Saturday at 6:00 PM, the time Harold Camping had predicted the world would end. For a moment I pondered the foolishness of setting dates, then looked out the window and imagined what it will be like when Jesus does return; the trumpet sound, the skies splitting, seeing Him… What a moment!  I think it is getting close.

 

Dick Robinson

Grieving

There have been seven deaths in the church family in the past ten days.  A number of church members, relatives, immediate family and loved ones of people in the church have passed away (just now, as I was typing this up, a member stopped in my office to tell me of his uncle that just died).

Paul wrote and said, "Brothers, we do not want you to...grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope" (1 Thess. 5:13).  Paul is saying that faith helps us to grieve differently -- hopefully -- confidently.

The saddest funeral I was ever part of was that of a woman who died in Florida.  She was flown back to Illinois and I was asked to have her funeral.  She had one son.  At the funeral service, in the funeral home chapel, there were a total of 7 people -- me, the son, and five others.  When the service ended, the son just stayed in his seat for over 40 minutes.  Neither mother nor son had faith and both of them lived lives closed off from others.  The only thing I could talk about was that God was available to comfort him and that people need Jesus.

Contrast that with the funerals of late in our congregation where there have been singing and laughter and joy.  Don't misunderstand, we grieve; Paul admits that we grieve -- we just grieve differently.  The worship center and fellowship hall have been full with loving support.  And what we are talking about is God's goodness and grace and promises and love and faithfulness.  We are talking about heaven and seeing our loved ones again.  And we are talking about what a blessing they were to us in their life.

Oh, yes!  God is still available to comfort us.  And more than ever we are convinced that people need Jesus.  But praise be to God, we don't have to grieve like those who have no hope!

One Of Satan's Most Effective Lies...

One of Satan's most effective lies is when he prompts us to question God’s goodness in the face of current circumstance, saying “it isn’t fair!” “We have been good; good things ought to happen to us.”

There are things in this world that are not fair. My illness is not one of them – Jesus said storms come, Matt. 7:25. It bothers me when someone says, “It is not fair that you have this disease”. I have a picture on my computer that I keep to remind me of what is not fair. It is of a starving Sudanese child, crawling in the dust toward a feeding center. . A vulture is a few feet away, watching her, waiting.

I live in a comfortable home -- she crawls in the dust. I have hospitals, doctors, and medicine to make me more comfortable – she lacks even the essentials of life. I have many friends that help me -- she lacks one person to pick her up and take her a few hundred yards to the feeding station.

God’s will for us:  “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  I Thess. 5:16-18

Dick Robinson

PS: Next time you feel sorry for yourself, remember this:  If  you make $24,000.00 per year, you are in the top 10% of the world’s wealthiest. If you make $80,000.00 per year, you are in the top 1% of the world’s wealthiest.