Life Here and There

In our journey through the Word at Bethel, we’ve come up to the historical books of the Old Testament. We jump right into the first two kings, Saul and David, who could not be more of a contrast. I’ve always been struck by the supreme difference between the two of them Saul would do anything for the approval of man, including live in direct disobedience to God. David, on the other hand, was crushed anytime he didn’t have God’s approval and obeyed God even when it cost him the approval of man.

My how we need to learn this!

And here’s a Youtube link to To Become A Man After God’s Own Heart.

How did Father’s Day really begin? Just watch.

Can’t see it? View it here.

Few historical moments fascinate me more than the storming of the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Over 9,000 men died in that assault, but over 100,000 Allied troops were able to penetrate and march across Europe to defeat the Nazi forces. Rarely has history seen such a display of raw courage. I’m thankful for their sacrifice!

Here’s a film produced by the Army to remember that occasion…

I primarily wanted to comment on the significance of these three days.

• Sunday – Sanctity of human life Sunday, a rememberance of the infamous Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.
• Monday – Martin Luther King, Jr. day, a celebration of tremendous advances in civil rights at tremendous costs.
• Tuesday – Our farewell to George W. Bush and our welcoming of Barack Obama.

My thoughts… (random, but worth hearing, or at least worth saying)

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Time is a life-dominating principle. Yesterday I picked up a copy of our church newsletter from January of 2007 and I had published an article about how time is passing and we have to decide what to do with each moment of our lives. This is how we live – by the ticking of the clock and the passing of the hours, days, weeks, and years.

God doesn’t live this way at all. He invented time and started the original sundial in motion during His creative work. He is never in a hurry, and it is that fact that causes us so much trouble. Waiting is one of life’s greatest challenges of all. The entire world has been waiting for a very long time.

We just recently used some Wednesday nights to discuss Jesus’ words in Matthew 24 and 25 about the end times and especially the period of time the Bible refers to as the great tribulation. I believe that Christians will be removed from the earth just before this time begins in the rapture, but I also believe that the events Jesus and John (in Revelation) described cast a shadow before themselves and that we can begin to see as world events arrange themselves toward the fulfillment of those prophecies.

And when the fullness of time comes these events will occur, but it’s a tough wait. The world around us watches with skepticism to see if the Bible’s claims about the future are sure. Why then, after nearly two thousand years, am I so sure that He’s still coming? Primarily because there was another time in history when the world watched with that same skepticism to see if Israel would actually receive the Savior who had been promised to them for centuries. That Savior came – Jesus the Messiah.

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