LIFE: It's How We Finish That Makes A Difference!

"… his wife … looked back; and she became a pillar of salt"

Genesis 19:26

"We have finished our years like a sigh."

Psalm 90:9

"Remember … your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, 'I have no delight in them.'”

Ecclesiastes 12:1-8

"For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

Philippians 1:21

Auto racing is well known all over. In fact it is one of the most successful sporting endeavors in the world, with attendance statistics that are the envy of many sports entrepreneurs.

Professional racing teams spend a lot of time perfecting their skills: terrifying turns, speeds that would paralyze an ordinary driver, and terrible crashes are every day occurrences at the track.

The last ten miles, I am told, are the best – especially in a long race – just lasting to cover those final ten miles is something unique. Drivers say the strain of all that preceded those last ten miles is worth the rush of adrenaline and the excitement.

[Provided by subscriber Merilyn Derkson, Chaplain of Broadway Pentecostal Lodge, Vancouver, BC; edited for publication]

Life should be like an auto race; we should get pleasure out of the race, but the last few miles should be our greatest joy.

A friend says she wants to take a Caribbean cruise … NOW! She doesn’t want to wait until she has to be pushed up the ramp in a wheelchair! What a pessimistic attitude. Those seasoned years should be looked forward to.

The wagon trains which came West, to settle this continent, had joyful people looking forward toward new hills, new experiences, and the thrill of opening up a new land; they also had mournful people looking backward at what was left behind.

Are we like the latter, sadly looking out the rear window of life – saying, “If only … ! If only …!”? Or are we on the bench seat, holding the reins, looking in awe at what life has yet to bring our way?

Christianity, Illustrations, Religion

HOPE: Where would you be without it?

HOPE RELEASED: [1 Timothy 2:13, 14]

For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived, fell into transgression.

In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman. Zeus (Greek supreme god) ordered her creation as vengeance on man and his benefactor, Prometheus, to whose brother Epimetheus he sent her. Later, Zeus sent Mercury with a box for Pandora.

Zeus forbade her to open the box; Pandora disobeyed and out came all the world's evils, only hope remained in the box. Pandora said, “Oh well! What the heck!” She again opened the lid, and out came hope which soothed man’s griefs and suffering.

The first Adam was also given a woman, but this woman was from the one, true God, Jehovah. Likewise, this woman was commanded not to do something, she too disobeyed. But God had hope remaining, so He sent His Son to release it from the hearts of man to soothe the pangs of suffering eternal damnation.

TAGS: Disobedience, First Adam,
Greek Mythology, Jesus, Pandora's Box, Sin

TWO OPTIONS: [John 6:37; other topics - Aging, hopelessness, kindness, Memorial Day, respect, seniors, veterans, WWII]

They called him Pops around the Butte County, California, jail. However, his real name was Coval Russell. He was 92 years-old and serving 14 months for trying to kill his 70-year-old landlord over a petty dispute.

The report in The Los Angeles Times [July 11, 2002] claimed his year in jail was the best year of his nine decades long life; evidently, Russell had few positive life encounters prior to incarceration.

Yet, jailers and inmates alike befriended their senior citizen neighbor. His new family tried to make the tall, lanky Oklahoma native as comfortable as possible; they provided an extra mattress, first spot in the chow line, extra television time, even additional outside calls for medications (he had prostrate cancer). The younger men considered themselves his grandkids.

Upon serving his term, Russell petitioned the judge to be allowed to remain in jail. He told the jurist the people in jail treated him with more respect than those on the outside. “They treat me like a human being in there.” He supposedly said. His appeal was rejected.

As a result, the distraught man told friends he had but two options – either to violate his parole in order to return to jail or to take his own life. On Wednesday, 11 July 2002, Coval Russell, the WWII veteran, who risked his life for his fellow Americans, jumped from a bridge over the Feather River, to his death.

People (family, friends, and neighbors) who should have and could have given him a third option, didn’t; people who had little to give and little power to give at all, gave all they had. They gave him what they thought he needed but missed the mark by a light-year.

What Coval Russell really wanted and needed was hope, and hope is what a man gets when he has a right relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. He was abandoned and disrespected by a callused and indifferent world. Christ, the lover of his soul, would never abandon him and would give him all the respect a man could imagine.

AGING - All of creation takes this journey!

THE OLDER I GET! [Ecclesiastes 12:1-8; death, faith, life]

The older I get temporally, the more I see things dying … my eyesight, my strength, my memory, my balance, my legs, my marksmanship, my stamina, and much more.

The older I get spiritually, the more I see things coming to life … my faith, my hope, my love, my heart, my spirit, and my insight, my understanding, and much more.

Glory!