Life is a blast!
Of course, it’s the next life that I’m referring to. This one is anything but.
I don’t know how long it was before Adam and Eve pretty much literally “turned over the applecart” but they sure did a good job, although I have to admit that I would have done it just as blatantly. And by Genesis 3:19 (mighty early in the Bible, we must say) we read this awfully negative statement “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Oh great! We work hard all of our lives to put food on the table, assuming we can afford a table, and then we die. We fight the battles of growing up, enduring puberty and other indignities, reach adulthood where some receive the blessing of marriage (at which roughly 50% miserably fail) have children, work hard to see them grow up while fearfully praying that they will be healthy, successful, and prosperous. Meanwhile, we keep on going to the doctor, waiting for him/her/he/she/it to say, “I’m sorry Mr. Mitchell, but you only have a day and a half left.” And let’s not even mention the pain of the dentist, you know, that pain involving
$ that even the Novocain can’t dull!
We have heartbreaks in this life. The Apostle Paul shared his own potential heartbreak with us in Philippians 2:25-27, where he spoke of his love for Epaphroditus who had been sick, and how emotionally threatened he felt “… ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.” A young friend of ours from Maine (thirtysomething) Nick Shaw, was in emergency last night in tremendous pain from an undiagnosed illness. Heartbreaking. Please keep him in prayer. Others we know are fighting battles for their very lives, Charlie Taylor being one of them as he awaits the results of his brain biopsy to tell him (we think) whether his cancer is stage 3 or stage 4. There’s no end to the heartbreak of this life, and even Paul expressed it straight out!
But how did Paul keep a positive attitude? Can we? Sure we can! Here’s what Paul said about that: 2 Corinthians 4:8-11 “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.”
Let’s remember this little saying: I read the back of the Book, and we won! We enjoy the enjoyable of this life (and there is much and great enjoyment in it) we serve our fellow man and have Outback steak every now and then (Ruth’s Cris if you’re upscale like Rev. Jerry Cook) and we, with determination and dedication, serve God and man.
And then, ….. we go home to be with the LORD, where, life really will be a blast! Keep looking up, we’re living the dream!!
Love to you all,
Pastor