Love Endures All Things

This Saturday I will celebrate with my good friends Matt Dugan and Erin Parker as they join together in holy matrimony.
Now while I could give them lots of advice on starting a marriage, my 25 years of singledom probably don’t give me much credibility as a marriage counselor.
Last Saturday Matt called me to help him carry their new queen-size Sealy Posturepedic mattress home from the store.
So I met Matt at the store, loaded the mattress and box springs and we went on our merry way.
As we traveled along FM 93 I saw a flash of white in my rear view mirror.
I looked and sure enough, the brand new mattress had caught wind (I’m beginning to think FM 93 is cursed for me).
“Matt — there goes your mattress!” I exclaimed.
We both watched in amazement as the mattress took flight into the wild blue yonder — like a bird with wings.
Ok, so maybe it wasn’t quite that impressive — but it did shoot seven or eight feet into the air before it came crashing down on it’s corner with a tremendous bounce and then settling in the middle of the road.
Thanks to quick reflexes by the driver of the Ford Explorer behind us, the mattress wasn’t completely toasted.
As we examined the mattress, we knew there was no way we could hide this accident from Erin. So we loaded the mattress back into the truck and slowly made the way home.
Needless to say, Erin wasn’t too excited to see their brand new mattress with pretty permanent tears and wrinkles in it.
I took my cue and left shortly after.
Talking with Matt later reminded me again of the importance of material things.
There is none.
A mattress is a mattress — and as proven Saturday — they don’t last forever, but their love for each other will endure.
To help ease the pain, I told Matt a story David told me about his wedding escapade.
As David and Anna registered for their wedding gifts at a fine retail store, the sales clerk promised them an extra nice gift from the store.
After the wedding, they went to make a few purchases remaining on their list and the sales clerk brought out a small white box.
She seemed very excited about the couples gift and opened a small white box to reveal an even smaller glass swan.
David and Anna looked at each other, not quite sure what to think.
And after they left the store they both laughed about their disappointment.
“We sure thought we’d be getting something super amazing from all the hype,” David said.
But amazingly with all the gifts that remain from their wedding, two things remain.
Their love — and that small glass swan.
“I’ve broken most of our other gifts,” David said. “But the one thing we’ve always kept as the greatest remembrance of our wedding is that little swan.”
So to Matt, Erin and the rest of us — sometimes the marriage, honeymoon, gifts and excitement are all super hyped and we get caught up in the emotion of the moment — but in the end love is what matters and love is what endures.
Through the ups and downs, the sickness and health, love remains (and maybe a goofy story about the day we forgot to tie down your mattress).
So good luck to both of you and may your love endure above all else.
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” – 1 Corinthians 13:13

A Dis-Belief in Coincidences

I used to believe in coincidences.
But that was before I met Ann Tubbs.
Many people would say Ann’s life is full of coincidences – she believes differently and I can see why.
“Too many things have happened in my life for it to simply be a series of coincidences,” Ann said.
You see, Ann’s a chef by trade, but nearly five years ago she was forced to look at other possibilities when she was laid off.
“I sat at home confused as to what direction I should head,” Ann said. Not only had Ann been laid off, but her husband LaRon was also seeing a cut in hours as well. “After two weeks of feeling down for myself, I was sitting in front of my sewing machine and then I heard a voice as clear as daylight telling me ‘This is what you’re going to do.’ The voice was so clear I had to double check the house and make sure all the doors were still locked.”
Thinking she knew more than God, Ann saw this as a declaration that she was to open her own sewing business.
“I’ve always enjoyed sewing and making clothes and thought this would be a great opportunity to open my own store in Salado.”
But for the next year it didn’t matter what Ann tried, her business was not taking off as she had hoped. Without a designer label, the dresses didn’t sell.
She tried various avenues for selling her dresses, but the sales weren’t coming.
“I kept getting knocked down over and over again,” Ann said. “But even during that time, I kept taking the best dresses to local shelters. When I dropped them off, I’d say to myself, ‘Oh great — now look what you’ve done. You gave away all your best dresses and now you don’t have any money for fabric, food or anything else.’”
Ann kept saving her money and buying material for new dresses all the while, imaging little girls playing and enjoying her dresses.
“I felt like I could easily sell these dresses for $70 to $100 anywhere,” Ann said. “But I continued to have an overwhelming peace and joy when I donated the clothes to the local shelters.”
Amazingly, as Ann continued to bring 20 to 30 dresses each time to the shelter she would be told that the dress sizes were exactly what the shelter needed.
“I remember vividly one occasion where I decided to create three identical dresses to take to the shelter,” Ann said. “I always made each dress unique, but I just had an urge to make three identical dresses. When I took the dresses to the shelter, they were amazed saying they had just received a request from a set of triplets in those sizes.”
Time after time Ann kept seeing these unique coincidences and continued to offer her dresses to the local shelters as well as groups taking mission trips to Mexico and Columbia. But as time wore on, so did the strain of no income.
So three years ago, Ann went back to work at Deli on the Square.
“I was working at the deli but whenever people asked what I did, I kept saying I have a dress and clothing ministry for children,” Ann said. “But working full-time limited what I could design drastically. I went from making 80 dresses a month to only 20.”
Then after almost four years of work, Ann was simply worn out.
“I was so tired,” Ann recalls.
She took nearly 150 patterns she had used over the last four years and dumped them all.
“I was frustrated and tired,” Ann said. “I had drawn nearly 99-percent of my patterns and I threw them all away. I thought, now I can focus on a regular job, with a regular salary and stop worrying about where the money comes from.”
Yet while Ann thought she had ended her ministry, through several more coincidences she realized this was only a beginning.
“I threw all my patterns away over the weekend,” Ann said. “And when I came to work Monday I was in the worst mood. I didn’t know why. I didn’t want to talk or deal with anyone. Then it hit me on my way home — I had thrown away a four-year long passion and ministry.”
When Ann arrived home, to her amazement, the trash had not been picked up all day. She immediately jumped in the dumpster and began salvaging her patterns.
“It took some time, but I was able to find and repair each and every pattern.”
Since that day, Ann’s passion has been revitalized.
A letter from Columbia assured her again that she was doing the right thing.
“I’ve always strived to make my dresses durable so they could be washed and dry-cleaned without a problem, but I never imagined I was making them so substantial so that young girls at an orphanage in Columbia could wear their dresses and wash them in the river without them falling apart. The letter was like God was saying, ‘Good job, way to go.”
After Ann’s recommitment to her ministry she has come to a crossroads.
“God is asking me to step out of the boat and I’m horrified because I can’t swim,” Ann said. “I can’t clothe the world but I believe I can make a dent in Bell County.”
Her new recommitment also brought her in touch with new sources of funding and help.
After sharing her story with one or two Kiwanis, after their Tuesday morning meeting at the deli, Ann received several large financial donations as well as tags for her dresses and new business cards.
“It was amazing what God was doing,” Ann said. “I’m terrible at asking for help, but JoAnn Flowers and Pearl Fellingham continued to tell me, ‘Just tell your story and you won’t have to ask.’”
And now Lawyer George Dulany has donated his time to help Ann earn 501(c)3 status and has set up a charter and by laws for her ministry.
Then as a way of affirming everything, God assured Ann that He was in charge and she had no need to worry.
“One afternoon I was working in the deli just feeling worn and tired when a young girl looked and smiled at me as big as possible,” Ann said. “Her smile melted away all my troubles. I told her mother about my ministry and asked her if she would permit to make a dress for this precious girl.”
After exchanging phone numbers Ann designed a dress for Sara.
Ann had no clue who this family was but she wanted to give back a token of gratitude.
After exchanging the dress, Ann told her new friend about her ministry and as well as stories about her husband’s talent as a musician and producer.
As it turns out, Ann’s new friend had an interest in music as well.
Her husband, a doctor at Scott & White also had a music ministry and had recorded several CD’s that he gave to his patients for free.
After seeing the beautiful dress Ann made for his daughter, Dr. Steven Vold insisted on meeting the person who would make “such lovely dresses for someone they didn’t know.”
The Dr. Steven and Ann Vold invited Ann and LaRon to dinner where it was discovered that Dr. Vold was a glaucoma specialist for Scott & White.
After years of blindness in one eye, LaRon had begun to come to grips with the fact that he was also loosing sight in his other eye.
Upon learning this, Dr. Vold insisted that he could not allow LaRon to go blind.
Dr. Vold plans to re-evaluate LaRon’s case to see if there is something that can be done.
LaRon has also in-turn begun working with Dr. Vold on writing and producing new music at his home studio.
“All this happened through a baby’s smile.”
So Ann continues on designing and sewing outfits for children she may never meet and continues trusting in God’s faithfulness and ability to provide.
And you can say what you will about coincidences and fate, but as for Ann and I we believe in an easier solution – someone else is in full control.
For more information on Ann’s ministry, Threads of Hope, call (254) 947-5498.

“I was shivering and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to me.” – Matthew 25:26

Why Waste Time Voting

Since working at The Belton Journal, I’ve noticed something that I don’t recall ever seeing to quite the extreme before.
Maybe it’s happened before and I simply have not been keen enough to realize it, but in Bell County and Belton we have seen a number of elections turned around (or attempted to) thanks to petitions and other means.
If one side is unhappy with the election we simply rally behind a petition to overturn the decision — or we change things up and hold another election.
We’ve also seen a very disappointing turn-out at the polls, so apparently people continue to remain apathetic towards area issues.
So, with several elections coming up, I began to think of ways we could decide key issues without wasting our time or tax payers money. So here are my top-ten election alternatives.
10. Royal Rumble – Each side is allowed 15 contestants with a new contestant entering the wrestling ring every two minutes. Each contestant stays in the ring until they are thrown over the ropes by an opponent. The last man standing wins.
Advantage – Former Belton Journal Sports Editor Chris Allman. Although I’m not sure which side he would take on our current issues, but he’s probably the only one with any real “in the ring experience.”
9. Paper, rock scissors – A classic game used to pick sides, home team, who has to walk the dog or any other numerous decisions that are made around the world each day.
Advantage – Marion Grayson. She’s a package broker by nature, so she knows all about paper and scissors. And who knows, she may have packaged up some rocks before too.
8. Stare down – First person to blink, smile or twitch looses.
Advantage – Carrol Wallace and Corbett Finney. They’ve been standing fast and strong on lower taxes in Belton for as long as I’ve known them. I can’t see them budging at this game either.
7. Curling (County courts complex) – This is such an unusual (but cool) Olympic sport of sending a 42-pound rock down a lane towards a small target. And what other sport lets you use a broom to win?
Advantage – I don’t know that there would be a clear cut advantage in this game. With every issue people are skilled at sweeping damaging facts under the carpet, so it might just be a question of who get it done faster.
6. Quake Tournament – Why not give each side a chance to shoot and kill their opponent in a virtual computer game? Winner takes all.
Advantage – David Leigh. With his engineering degree from the University of Texas and his experience with technology and computers, he would be a sure fire win.
5. Dodge ball – This game always proved and decided who the real bullies on the block were.
Advantage – I think we all have our own opinions of who the biggest bully on the block is, but I’m going to give the advantage to the side with the most players. It’s a simple mathematical equation, whoever has the most players on the team usually wins.
4. Demolition derby – This one should really attract the general public with the car crunching sounds of cars piling up everywhere.
Advantage – Dwayne Digby. As a car salesman he should have no problem getting the biggest, baddest, toughest diesel truck possible. He’ll be able to crunch the competition to shreds.
3. Slam dunk contest – Every one is given a shot to wow the crowd with their style and grace.
Advantage – John Galligan. With his experience as a Judge Advocate General, Galligan knows how to wow a jury and crowd with is style and finesse, in and out of the courtroom. I’m sure he can do the same on a basketball court as well.
2. Slip and slide – First one down the slippery mat wins.
Advantage – Me. At 6’5” I have a definite height advantage. I can outstretch even the best of them. Also, I’ll be willing to shave my head again to cut- down on any drag created by extra weight around my waist line. Of course that means I decide everything for Belton and become supreme ruler.
1. Re-vote – Since no one is ever really happy with the outcome of elections in Belton, (and people will be ready to petition me out of office in a month) let’s just hold a new election every month for city council, commissioners court, school board and any other pressing issues. How about best three out of five wins?
My name is Jonathan Blundell and I have approved this column.

When Greed Takes Over

Last November I told you of a rare experience — my truck running out of gas.
Now I have to admit, this rare occurrence is becoming a little less rare after this past Sunday.
As I headed to church early Sunday morning, I noticed my truck was sitting well past the empty marker — again.
In my rush to church I decided against re-filling my gas tank to insure I had plenty of time to set up for our sunrise service.
And unfortunately, gas tanks don’t re-fill on their own.
So when I didn’t stop to get gas on the way home, I couldn’t complain too much when my truck coasted to a dead stop between Midway and 6th Ave on I-35.
And like last time, I had plenty of time to reflect on my current situation while I waited for help to arrive.
It struck me as I sat, that in both instances, it wasn’t really a lack of time or a lack of money that led my truck to running out of gas. The real issue at hand was greed.
In both instances my boss had promised to give me a free tank of gas for helping him with a few side projects.
And in both instances, I decided to wait and run my truck empty, rather than risk loosing the chance to get a few extra gallons of gas for free.
Those few extra gallons I could have bought to get me through the weekend cost me a lot more time and effort than they ever would have if I hadn’t let greed take over.
It’s sad when I think of how often each of us get caught up with greed.
Sometimes its greed for a few extra gallons of gas, sometimes its greed for time alone or time with someone else and sometimes its greed for power, money, wealth or fame.
Whatever the greed is based on, it’s never really worth it.
Take Tolkien’s story, “The Lord of the Rings” as an example.
Throughout Tolkin’s book and the recent blockbuster movie trilogy, everyone must face their own issues with greed and their desire for the power that comes with The Ring.
For some it leads to murder, for some it leads to a life of addiction, and for others it leads to worry and pain and suffering but in the end everyone must face their own issues or they will be overcome by them.
In life we all face similar temptations.
The chance for more money, more power, more fame or more gas in your gas tank can easily ruin you.
The desire for more can bring your truck from a blazing 75 miles per hour to a complete stop alongside I-35.
The desire for more can ruin your reputation, your career and many times relationships with friends and family.
In Matthew 19, we can read the story of a rich young man.
The man comes to Jesus asking what he must do to be saved.
He tells Jesus he has followed the commandments and asks, “What now?”
“If you want to give it all you’ve got,” Jesus replied. “Go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me.”
That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crestfallen, he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn’t bear to let go.
As he watched him go, Jesus told his disciples, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for the rich to enter God’s kingdom? Let me tell you, it’s easier to gallop a camel through a needle’s eye than for the rich to enter God’s kingdom.”
The rich young man let greed stand in the way of entering the kingdom of heaven.
We can look back and judge him or we can learn from the lesson and realize that we do the same thing everyday.
Not only am I greedy with my gas, but I’m also greedy with so many other things as well, including my time.
Like many other things, my time is my time and I want full control of it.
I don’t want someone else trying to tell me how I can or can’t spend my free time.
I’m also constantly having to remind myself to give my daily “tithe” of time back to God.
Like I mentioned last week, He desires to spend time with us. He doesn’t want to simply be a light switch we turn on and off in our time of need.
He wants to be first and foremost in our lives and I know He deserves that and so much more.
So let’s remember to give generously of our gifts, money, time, power and love not only to God but too each other as well.
And let greed be a thing of the past.

“A greedy and grasping person destroys community; those who refuse to exploit live and let live.” – Proverbs 15:27.

When Did God Become a Light Switch

This Sunday people all around the country and around the world will flock to their local churches.
Some will be members, some will be visitors, some will simply be curious about this man they call Jesus Christ.
It’s not a new phenomenon.
People always have a tendency to flock to church on Easter and Christmas Sundays.
But why? Why do these two days deserve recognition over others?
Yes, I know the history.
I’m not doubting the importance of Christ’s birth and Christ’s resurrection.
After all, without these two crucial events, my entire faith would be void.
So, the events they celebrate are very important. But what about next Sunday, or the Sunday after that?
Why do they not deserve the extra time and effort it takes to wake up and get dressed on Sunday mornings?
Is it because we know on Easter and Christmas the pastor’s message will be a little more fine tuned?
Is it because we know the choir and musicians will have practiced a little more during the week for the big service?
Or is it because we’ve turned God and our worship of God into something it shouldn’t be?
Like usual, I’ll go with the later suggestion.
Now I’m not just purposely stepping on the toes of those who only attend church once or twice a year, or even once a month.
I’ve need to remove the plank in my eye before I even attempt to remove the speck in yours.
I’ve managed to turn God into a light switch that I can turn on and off whenever I want.
Finances getting tight? Turn on the supernatural God switch and watch miracles work.
Family member sick? Turn on the miraculous God switch and watch people healed of their disease.
Want to watch the latest movie that everyone’s talking about? Turn off the amazing God switch and watch my conscious disappear.
Want to flip off that driver that just cut you off? Turn off the forgiving God switch and swear away.
It sometimes becomes habitual. Turn the God switch on and Sundays and turn it off as soon as you walk out the doors.
After all, growing up, my dad always taught me to save electricity and turn off the lights whenever I walked out of a room.
I don’t want to wear God out and force Him to work overtime, so I’ll just give Him Monday through Saturday off.
He can make everyone else feel guilty when they mess up.
So we turn off the God switch and forget about Him.
But I’m glad that just like a light switch, He still remains ready to provide His power when we ask.
He was ready and waiting before we even knew of Him and His power.
The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 1, “Long before He laid down earth’s foundations, He had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by His love. Long, long ago He decided to adopt us into His family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure He took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son. Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, His blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people–free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans He took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.”
Does that not excite you?
God provided everything we could possibly need and then let us in on His plans.
But we’d still rather ignore all of that so we can have freedom to do what we want without a guilty conscious.
I have several friends, who because of our busy schedules, it’s difficult to get together and hang out. Yet when they call I can almost guarantee one thing – they want probably want something.
Probably like my parents could almost guarantee I wanted something whenever I would do extra chores or start being extra nice to them and my sisters.
It’s not that I mind helping my friends, after all that’s what friends are for, but their friendship means so much more when they call just to see how I’m doing or call to grab a coffee, see a baseball game or call to go enjoy a triple scoop Rocky Road ice cream cone.
And I think that God feels the same.
Paul continues in chapter two, “It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, He embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then He picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus.”
Don’t let the world tell you how to live. We’ve all done it, but that doesn’t make it OK.
Don’t let them convince you to turn your light switch off.
In fact, during this Easter season, lets all remove that switch and hard-wire our connection to God and make sure that nothing else gets in and shorts the most important circuit of all.

The Last and Final Word

It’s been said before that all pastors and evangelists really only have two or three sermons that they constantly recycle in numerous ways each Sunday.
I wonder if the same can be said of columnists and writers. Sometimes I feel like I’ve said everything in my column at least once before in some form or fashion.
Maybe it’s something in our subliminal psyche that causes us to dwell on certain things until there’s nothing left to recycle. It’s kind of like David Tuma and Belton Tiger Football. He’ll dwell on it and recap it and tell the great stories over and over until there’s just no one listening. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bigger fan of the boys in red or any color for that matter.
So subliminal psyche or not, for the past six months or so I’ve been dwelling on the book of Ecclesiastes. It’s still such an amazing gem in my mind.
And as I mentioned earlier in the year, it’s also been the topic of discussion for the Single’s class I teach at church.
I really don’t know if they’ve enjoyed the study like I have, but as we wrapped up our 3 month study of the book, it was sometimes hard to contain my excitement as I shared the nuggets of wisdom King Solomon concluded his masterpiece with.
They may have all been glad to get rid of the book once and for all. After all, sometimes it feels like Solomon only has one or two messages that are recycled with new points and illustrations throughout the book.
So in case any members of my class missed it, or in case you’re interested, I’m going to recap our 3 month study in the next 1,500 words or so.
Point one: When bad things happen, they are still under the complete control of God.
That’s a tough nugget to swallow. After all, doesn’t God love everyone? And isn’t God good? If that’s all true then how can God be in control?
In 1947 Simon Wisenthal formed an organization to find and prosecute Nazi war criminals. He and his organization tracked down more than 1,000 war criminals in a 40-year period. He was passionate about his calling. During the last three years of World War II, the Nazis killed 89 members of Wisenthal’s family.
But even more astonishing was the evil Wisenthal saw in the concentration camps. One day two Nazi officers drove into a camp and grabbed two Jewish men and stood them back to back. Then the officer pulled out his gun and shot through one man’s head and into the other.
The officer told his fellow Nazi, “See, I told you we’ve been wasting 50-percent of our bullets.” Wisenthal later said, “God is on leave.”
Throughout Ecclesiastes Solomon stresses that he has seen the insanity of life and in all of the insanity, God has rigged life so that we must trust Him even though life doesn’t make sense.
If we look further along in scripture, into the New Testament, we see the ultimate atrocity.
God sent his Son to earth so that God could be revealed to man in a personal way.
His Son, Jesus Christ, lived the perfect life.
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Yet even though Christ lived the perfect life, He was led to sacrifice His body in the worst possible way, crucifixion.
Doesn’t seem to fair to me.
Christ, the only man without sin, bore the full wrath of God against sin.
Yet God was in control. In the midst of His suffering, Christ calls out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”
Christ knew who was in control. Moments later, Christ raises His voice again and says, “Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit.”
When the bad times come, we must realize God is still in full control.
Point two: When bad things happen, you better check your attitude towards God.
This is another hard one for me. When bad things happen to me, I want to find someone to blame. And who better to blame than the guy in charge? After all, isn’t it His fault these things are happening?
Yet if we look at Christ, we see that He knew His place. He never grumbled about His suffering. He accepted it as God’s will.
“My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me,” Jesus pled in the Garden of Gethsemane. “Yet not as I will, but as Thou will.”
Powerful words.
Paul reminds us in Romans that “All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose.”
That’s good advice, but I’ve always found that it’s much easier to teach than believe.
I can tell a friend 20-million times that, “All things work together for the good,” but the moment the bad stuff happens to me, it’s not so easy to accept. So we must check our attitude.
Point three: Don’t wait for God to reveal your future. Obey God and follow your heart.
Have you ever played Ouiga Bible? Ask a question, pick up your Bible and point to a random verse to find your destiny.
It might be a fun game to play at parties. But God’s not normally going to give you a mystic sign or tell you your fortune with scripture. He doesn’t expect us to sit in the lotus position and make decisions based on a mystical feeling.
It’s been debated as to the exact extent of Jesus’ knowledge while He was on earth. But it is clear that he limited His knowledge to some extent (Mark 11). And yet he walked forward confidently into the future. He was absolutely certain of His Father’s love and control in His life.
He followed God and His desires and let the chips fall where they may. Paul did the same thing. His passion was to visit Rome. It wasn’t until he was arrested, shipwrecked and bitten by a snake in Malta that he finally made it to Rome. He finally fulfilled his dream but it wasn’t the way he wanted to go about it.
God will get you to His destination. Along the way you may have to go through some rough times that force you to trust Him, but He’ll walk alongside you and guide you the whole way.
So live boldly. Let the chips fall where they may and let God be the God of grace. (I wish I could continue on with this point, but my editor only gives me a limited amount of space.)
Point four: Bad things happen to everyone, not just those who don’t have enough faith.
Jesus had more faith than anyone, yet Jesus had bad things happen to Him. As I’ve written before, Johnny Christian doesn’t always score the touchdown and Paul Pagan doesn’t always fumble the ball. Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people.
Trusting God does not mean we’re exempt from trouble, it simply means we should realize there is an ultimate purpose to our suffering.
Point five: Christians should have the most fun.
During Christ’s three years of public ministry we only have a brief glimpse of his day to day life. Yet six times he was accused of eating and drinking with outcasts or simply having too much fun.
One of my favorite representations of Christ in film is in the Matthew Series produced by The Visual Bible.
Christ is seen over and over again laughing with His disciples. He is seen cutting up and pouring water over someone sleeping during His Sermon on the Mount. He had joy.
Christ knew that life was a blessing and that He should enjoy every moment of it. His life was focused on three main points, building relationships, loving people and bringing people back to God.
Matthew 9 tells of Jesus being accused of not holding to the strict standards of John the Baptist and the Pharisees. “Then John’s disciples came and asked him, ‘How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?’ Jesus answered, ‘How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.’”
Why pout and be a downer. Christ is here. The Messiah has come. Have joy.
Howard Hendrix said the face of many Christians belong on the cover of the book of Lamentations. Why be downcast?
Jesus had fun and joy because His life and heart overflowed from the relationship He had with His Father. Find something you enjoy, something fun, and give yourself over to it with your whole heart. Know that life and laughter is a gift from God.
Point six: Do the right thing and let the chips fall where they may.
Jesus was loyal to His Father no matter what pain it brought. Realize that God will determine the outcome. We can do nothing to change that. It’s our job to walk faithfully with Him along the way.“Into Thy hands I commit my spirit.”
Finally. The last word.
Point seven: The Bible is our ONLY reliable source for knowing God.
The entire Bible was written to bring us to one point. The purpose of the Old Testament is to show the need for a Messiah. The purpose of the Gospels is to reveal who the Messiah is. The purpose of Acts is to show the power of His message. The Epistles (Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Phillipians and all the way through Jude) show us exactly what He did and how we should live.
Finally Revelation tells us He’s coming back.
Solomon concludes the book of Ecclesiastes in the best possible way. “The last and final word is this: Fear God. Do what he tells you. And that’s it. Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether it’s good or evil.”
To fear God is to know God.
And the only way to do that is to know His word. The Bible is God’s written Word to us.
It’s our instruction manual. So to know scripture, is to know Him. Apply scripture to your life daily.
Jesus used scripture to overcome temptation and to defeat Satan. He used it to comfort. He used it to answer those in authority. He knew the Word of God was a reliable source of truth in which we can entrust our entire life.
If we devote ourselves to scripture we will become more like Christ.
We will stand strong when the bad days come and when the suffering comes.
And we will laugh and find joy in the life God gives us day to day.
So there you have it. Three months rolled into under 2,000 words. If you really want to get into Ecclesiastes I recommend the book a majority of my studies were based on, “The Problem of Life With God,” by Tommy Nelson and published by Tommy Nelson Publishers.