Romans 13:1 (NIV)
1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

There is no power but of God. God as the ruler and governor of the world hath appointed the ordinance of magistracy, so that all civil power is derived from him as from its original, and he hath by his providence put the administration into those hands, whatever they are that have it. [Matthew Henry Commentary]


The latest Gallup poll (2015) shows that Americans' trust in our top judges has fallen to an all-time low. Trust in the judicial branch of government dropped eight points just in the last year, which saw major decisions that many Americans deemed controversial or just plain wrong.

Gallup calls this a "significant" loss of trust, with only 53 percent of Americans responding that they have "a great deal" or even just "a fair amount" of trust in the third branch of government. Trust in the Executive (45 percent) and Legislative (32 percent) branches are also quite low, but both were slightly up from last year.

In 2009, Americans' trust in the Judiciary was 76 percent. In just the six years since then, mistrust has risen in nearly a third of Americans.


It could be said Americans have lost confidence in the ultimate judge � God. Other polls show that Protestant Christianity has dropped in American. If we are pushing God out of our lives and out of our country then we should think God will lift His hands from the government He has given us.

Look at what is happening with the police around our nation. The people do not give the police the respect they deserve so even the police are withdrawing from problems they might normally attend to.

2 Corinthians 3:6 (NIV)
6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant�not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

As able ministers of the New Testament, they were ministers not merely of the letter, to read the written word, or to preach the letter of the gospel only, but they were ministers of the Spirit also; the Spirit of God did accompany their ministrations. The letter killeth; this the letter of the law does, for that is the ministration of death; and if we rest only in the letter of the gospel we shall be never the better for so doing, for even that will be a savour of death unto death; but the Spirit of the gospel, going along with the ministry of the gospel, giveth life spiritual and life eternal. [Matthew Henry Commentary]




Everything about baseball is predicated on precision and predictability. A .260 hitter might have a good or bad year, but eventually he will revert to his norm. He will hit .260. It's the same with pitching. Conventional hurlers deliberately try to spin the ball in a certain way. Depending on that spin, the ball will sink or curve, break left or right.

But there's one notable exception to baseball's predictability�the knuckleball. A good knuckleball hardly spins at all. Because a knuckler doesn't spin, it's entirely unpredictable. Charlie Hough, one of the greatest knuckleball pitchers of all time once said, "The wind currents make the ball bob around like a Whiffle ball and it might break two or three different times on the way to the plate." As a result, the pitcher and the catcher�let alone the hitter�have no idea where the ball is going.

The knuckleball throws a hitter's hitting instincts off-kilter, especially for big sluggers with big swings who have less time to react. Yankee outfielder Bobby Murcer once said the challenge of hitting a knuckleball was like "trying to eat Jell-O with chopsticks." Another Yankee, Mickey Mantle, said bluntly: "Knuckleballers. I hate 'em all." And as for catching a knuckleball pitcher? Good luck. Joe Torre once said, "[Catchers need to] use a big glove and a pair of rosary beads." [Adapted from Steven V. Roberts, "The history of the knuckleball, baseball's most difficult pitch," The Washington Post (4-3-15)]


Sometimes trying to determine God�s will is like trying to hit a knuckle ball; we just don�t know which direction things will go. Fortunately we have God who has given us His word to lead and remind us. In the verse above we know we are preachers of The Gospel. We are not to destroy one another, but instead give hope to a peaceful and everlasting life.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith�and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God� 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Grace is unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification. The Bible tells us it is by God�s grace we are saved through faith in The Gospel of Jesus Christ and not from our own works. It is a true gift so that we cannot boast about anything we have done.


Enjoy the lyrics from Matthew West�s Song � Grace Wins


In my weakest moment I see you
Shaking your head in disgrace
I can read the disapointment
Written all over your face

Here comes those whispers in my ear
Saying who do you think you are
Looks like you're on your own from here
Cause grace could never reach that far

But, in the shadow of that shame
Beat down by all the blame
I hear you call my name sayin it's not over
And my heart starts to beat
So loud now, drowning out the doubt
I'm down but I'm not out

There's a war between guilt and grace
And they're fighting for a sacred space
But I'm living proof
Grace wins every time

No more lying down in death's defeat
Now I'm rising up in victory
Singing hallelujah
Grace wins every time

Words can't describe the way it feels
When mercy floods a thirsty soul
A broken side begins to heal
And grace returns what guilt has stole

And, in the shadow of that shame
Beat down by all the blame
I hear you call my name sayin it's not over
And my heart starts to beat
So loud now, drowning out the doubt
I'm down but I'm not out

There's a war between guilt and grace
And they're fighting for a sacred space
But I'm living proof
Grace wins every time

No more lying down in death's defeat
Now I'm rising up in victory
Singing hallelujah
Grace wins every time

For the prodigal son, grace wins
For the woman at the well, grace wins
For the blind man and the beggar, grace wins
For always and forever, grace wins
For the lost out on the street, grace wins
For the worst part of you and me, grace wins
For the theif on the cross, grace wins
For a world that it lost

There's a war between guilt and grace
And they're fighting for a sacred space
But I'm living proof
Grace wins every time

No more lying down in death's defeat
Now I'm rising up in victory
Singing hallelujah
Grace wins every time

Every time
I'm living proof grace wins every time




GOD�S GRACE IS GREATER THAN ALL OUR SIN!

Isaiah 1:18 (NIV)
18 �Come now, let us settle the matter,� says the Lord. �Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Religion has reason on its side; there is all the reason in the world why we should do as God would have us do. The God of heaven condescends to reason the case with those that contradict him and find fault with his proceedings; for he will be justified when he speaks. [Matthew Henry]




Back in the days when everyone used typewriters there was a little thing called Wite-Out. Wite-Out dates to 1966 when an insurance-company clerk named George Kloosterhouse teamed with a guy who waterproofed basements to develop their own correction fluid. They originally called it "Wite-Out WO-1 Erasing Liquid."

You can still buy the product. Wite-Out isn't perfect. If you made a mistake on the typewriter, you'd have to take the paper out or get it raised up a little bit and then dab it with the Wite-Out, paint over the mistake, and then blow on it and let it dry. Then you could type right over it as if the mistake had never been made.

When electric typewriters came along, some genius invented something even better than Wite-Out�the self-correcting typewriter. Now wouldn't it be great if someday down the road somebody invented self-correcting people? Wouldn't it be cool if there could be a self-correcting husband or wife who would say the wrong thing and then just back up and say it over again right? "You know, you're just like your mother. Oops! Let's just erase that and start over." Wouldn't it be great if every spouse or friend or parent or child came with self-correcting technology?

But the human race isn't self-correcting. In fact, we're self-destructing. But in his grace God gave us one of his most amazing inventions�the gift of forgiveness. In a way, it is more powerful than Wite-Out. At the cross Jesus not only covered sin, he also absolves it, pays the penalty for it, and removes it as far from the east is to the west. [John Ortbreg, "Unchanging God in a Changing World," Menlo Park Presbyterian Church]


Instead of starting over or self-correcting, let us see if we can catch our problems before we commit them. Let us stop and reason with ourselves to see if our words will be right. But even if we can�t, we can learn to correct our mistakes through apologies, acceptance, forgiveness and whatever else it takes to make things right.

1 Peter 5:8 (NIV)
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Here the apostle does three things:-
He shows them their danger from an enemy more cruel and restless than even the worst of men, whom he describes, 1. By his characters and names. (1.) He is an adversary: "That adversary of yours; not a common adversary, but an enemy that impleads you, and litigates against you in your grand depending cause, and aims at your very souls.' (2.) The devil, the grand accuser of all the brethren; this title is derived from a word which signifies to strike through, or to stab. He would strike malignity into our natures and poison into our souls. If he could have struck these people with passion and murmuring in their sufferings, perhaps he might have drawn them to apostasy and ruin. (3.) He is a roaring lion, hungry, fierce, strong, and cruel, the fierce and greedy pursuer of souls. 2. By his business: He walks about, seeking whom he may devour; his whole design is to devour and destroy souls. To this end he is unwearied and restless in his malicious endeavours; for he always, night and day, goes about studying and contriving whom he may ensnare to their eternal ruin.


Rich Mullins, a Christian musician and songwriter who died in 1997 at the age of 41, once confessed in a concert that he struggled with watching pornography while traveling alone. One of his spiritual mentors told him, "It's not that you're so bad, it's just that you're not supposed to go out by yourself." So Mullins took a friend along with him on a trip to Amsterdam near its famous red-light district. Mullins said he was hoping his friend would fall fast asleep and start snoring so, as Mullins put it, "I thought, 'Maybe it would be fun to just take a walk and be tempted.'" He waited until 5:00 in the morning for his friend to start snoring, but he never did. Meanwhile, in the midst of his temptation, Mullins picked up a notebook and wrote the words to one of his more popular songs, 'Hold Me, Jesus'":

And I wake up in the night and feel the dark
It's so hot inside my soul
I swear there must be blisters on my heart
So hold me Jesus, 'cause I'm shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won't You be my Prince of Peace"

With this back story, some people call this Mullins' "Prayer for Porn Addicts" song, but it could also be a called a "Prayer for Anyone Who Is Tempted" Song.

[Luke Gilkerson, "'Hold Me Jesus': A Prayer for Porn Addiction," Covenant Eyes, June 17, 2010.]


Satan tempts us with things our nature desires and then accuses us in front of God of our failures.

1 John 2:15-16 (NLT)
15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.

Be crucified to the world, be mortified to the things, to the affairs and enticements, of it.' The several degrees of Christians should unite in this, in being dead to the world. Were they thus united, they would soon unite upon other accounts: their love should be reserved for God; throw it not away upon the world. [Matthew Henry Commentary]



Sgt. Dennis Weichel, (pronounced WY-KLE) 29, died in Afghanistan last week as he lifted an Afghan girl who was in the path of a large military vehicle barreling down a road. Weichel, a Rhode Island National Guardsman, was riding along in a convoy in eastern Afghanistan when some children were spotted on the road ahead.

The children were picking up shell casings lying on the road. The casings are recycled for money in Afghanistan. Weichel and other soldiers got out of their vehicles to get them out of the way of the heavy trucks in the convoy. The children were moved out of the way, but an Afghan girl darted back onto the road to pick up some more casings right in the path of a speeding 16 ton armored truck.

Weichel spotted the girl and quickly moved toward her to get her out of the way. He succeeded, but not before he was run over by the heavily armored truck. The girl was safe, but Weichel died of his injuries. Dennis was 29 years old and had arrived in Afghanistan only a few weeks before.

Staff Sgt. Ronald Corbett, who deployed with Weichel to Iraq in 2005, said, "He would have done it for anybody," adding, "That was the way he was. He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. He was that type of guy." [Luis Martinz, "Hero U.S Soldier Gives Life to Save Afghan Girl," ABC News (3-29-12)]


1 Corinthians 15:3 (NLT) says. �I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.�

Colossians 1:9 (NLT)
9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Here we find the apostle stating his prayers for the Colossians that they may understand God�s will and the knowledge they have received.




In an interview shortly before his death, Dallas Willard, a philosophy professor who wrote widely on spiritual formation in the church, was asked about the challenges facing the church. Dr. Willard spent much of his life addressing the problem of why the church isn't raising up more people who look and act like Jesus. At the end of that two hour interview, Willard was asked this pointed question: "When you look at how off track the church is, do you ever just throw up your hands in despair?"

Willard smiled and said, "Never."

"But how can you not?" the interviewer asked.

"Because," he said, "I know Christ is the head of his church and he knows what he's doing. [Skye Jethani, "Vampire Christianity," PreachingToday.com]


Such is the case for prayer. We don�t always understand or have complete knowledge of what we are to do, but we can be certain Christ knows. Therefore pray for one another and for your own concerns that Christ may give you and others understanding.

Psalm 119:18 (NIV)
18 Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.

That there are wondrous things in God's law, which we are all concerned, and should covet, to behold, not only strange things, which are very surprising and unexpected, but excellent things, which are to be highly esteemed and valued, and things which were long hidden from the wise and prudent, but are now revealed unto babes. If there were wonders in the law, much more in the gospel, where Christ is all in all, whose name is Wonderful. Well may we, who are so nearly interested, desire to behold these wondrous things, when the angels themselves reach to look into them, 1 Pt. 1:12. [Matthew Henry Commentary]




In her book Mystery on the Desert, Maria Reiche describes a series of strange lines made by the Nazea in the plains of Peru, some of them covering many square miles. For years people assumed these lines were the remnants of ancient irrigation ditches.

Then in 1939 Dr. Paul Kosok of Long Island University discovered their true meaning could only be seen from high in the air. When viewed from an airplane, these seemingly random lines form enormous drawings of birds, insects, and animals.

In a similar way, people often think of the Bible as a series of individual, unconnected stories. But if we survey the Scriptures as a whole, we discover that they form one great story of redemption�from the opening scenes of Genesis to the final chapter of Revelation. Weaving through all the diverse strands of the Bible is a divine storyline, the overarching story of what God has been up to in the rescue and restoration of fallen human beings, from the first nanosecond of creation through the final cry of victory at the end of time. [Timothy George, "Big Picture Faith," Christianity Today (10-23-00)]


Lord open our eyes that we may see the wonderful things you have in store for us!

Psalm 119:105 (NIV)
105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

The nature of the word of God, and the great intention of giving it to the world; it is a lamp and a light. It discovers to us, concerning God and ourselves, that which otherwise we could not have known; it shows us what is amiss, and will be dangerous; it directs us in our work and way, and a dark place indeed the world would be without it. It is a lamp which we may set up by us, and take into our hands for our own particular use, Prov. 6:23. The commandment is a lamp kept burning with the oil of the Spirit; it is like the lamps in the sanctuary, and the pillar of fire to Israel. [Matthew Henry Commentary]




I started writing these devotions to a friend many years ago and since then they have spread to others. Most days I allow another Bible webpage to pick out The Bible verses for me. Unless it�s something I really can�t relate to that day I may pick something out of Proverbs, but otherwise I use the verse I�m given.

I�ll always try to explain The Bible verse. Most often I will refer to the Matthew Henry Commentary because he tends to expound on the verse and give insight into it. Sometimes I know the verse well enough so I write my own explanation. I never know what I�ll be writing on a given day, but God does.

I�ll find a short story to illustrate the verse and sometimes I will even write from life experiences as I am doing today. There are times I may even pick a short story and add to it as a commentary. It just all depends on how God is leading me that day. I know when the story is not right because I draw a total blank. It�s just not what God wants me to share that day.

Over the years of writing, people will sometimes comment back to me: �How did you know what I was going through?�; �Those words were what I needed to cheer me up.�; �I was looking for God�s guidance and I found it in the message.�; �or it may just be a simple thank you.�

Sometimes people have even written back almost identical messages to me about the devotion. Let me assure you, usually the stories I pick are not about you. They are a story that is just pleasant and meaningful to me. However, GOD USES THE POWER OF HIS WORD LIKE A LAMP UNTO YOUR SOUL to speak to you. His word finds something in your heart and opens the door to it.

I pray God will takes His word and shine a lamp brightly into your heart to help you see what God wants you to do. You may be struggling with a problem. You may have an illness. You may be looking for work. Just know God is walking right there with you, ready to speak to you and encourage you. God finds you precious and loves you very must. Let His word fill your hearts so you know what to do at the proper times.

Thank God for your words, here, AskMe. The Scripture words of life. God bless you for being His light here on this message board of hurting people

You are more than welcome! I hope you have a very blessed week!

John 17:17 (NLT)
17 Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.

We have been given the truth of The Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to be ambassadors for Christ and share the truth we know with others. We are to teach them the truth we know and build them up.



Over the last 50 years, while society has been growing more and more prosperous and individualistic, our social connections have been dissolving. Emily Esfahni Smith from The Atlantic describes the price for our social disconnection:

We volunteer less. We entertain guests at our homes less often. We are getting married less. We are having fewer children. And we have fewer and fewer close friends with whom we'd share the intimate details of our lives. We are denying our social nature, and paying a price for it. Over the same period of time that social isolation has increased, our levels of happiness have gone down, while rates of suicide and depression have multiplied.


We need to build connections in life so we can befriend others and be able to share the truth about God. Without those connections there is no one to talk to. We isolate and even cause problems for ourselves. So build good relationships with people that turn into something special.

So true because we are each only one part of a whole body, right? It's like we have become a hand or foot that's not connected to the arm or leg, and we wonder why it's not going so well!!

True, it is hard to be a part of the body when we want to separate ourselves from others.

2 Peter 3:10-11 (NIV)
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives.

There is a certainty that one day The Lord will come and perform as He has proclaimed. Therefore how should we be living if He were to come in the midst of our lives?



Researcher Carol Dweck did a series of studies on how people handle adversity, particularly when they face limitations, obstacles, failure, and change. In one study, she took a group of ten-year-olds and gave them increasingly difficult math problems to see how they would handle failure. Most students got discouraged and depressed, but a few had a totally different response. One kid�in the face of failure�rubbed his hands together, smacked his lips, and said, "I love a challenge!" Another kid, failing one math problem after another, said, "You know, I was hoping this would be informative."

"What's wrong with them?" she wondered. "I always thought you coped with failure or you didn't cope with failure. I never thought anyone loved failure. Were these alien children or were they on to something?"

She realized that not only were these kids not discouraged by failure, they didn't think they were failing. They thought they were learning. She came to the conclusion that human beings have two different, almost opposite mind-sets about life. One of them I'm going to call a "closed mind-set." Those with a closed mind-set believe that life is full of a fixed amount of gifts and talents, and their worth depends on how talented they are. Therefore, their job is to convince others that they've got "it," whatever "it" is.

Dweck said there's another way to go through life�the open mind-set. These people believe that growth is always possible. A commitment to growth means that they embrace challenge. � Therefore, failure is indispensable and something to learn from. [John Ortberg, All the Places You'll Go. Except When You Don't (Tyndale, 2015), pp. 22-23]


We can either live with failure or we can love failure and find that it teaches and shows us how to live. Which shall you choose to do?

1 Samuel 1:23 (NKJV)
23 Talk no more so very proudly; Let no arrogance come from your mouth, For the Lord is the God of knowledge; And by Him actions are weighed.

Here is a warning that we would not boast with pride or arrogance about the things we have done; for The Lord God is the God of knowledge and known to Him are all deeds of man, both good and evil.



There is an axiom that says, �Actions speak louder than words.� Jesus said in Matthew 7, �17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.� So people are known by the fruit or the actions they produce in their lives.

Let�s use the letters from ACTION to show how a person can demonstrate good fruit in their life.

A � Accountability. We must hold ourselves accountable for the actions we take in our lives.
C � Consistent. Our actions must be consistent. We do not want to be hot one day and cold the next.
T � Thought. We must put though into our actions so as not to be careless or hurtful.
I � Integrity. Our lives should be filled with integrity so others know our actions are honest and fair.
O � Opinions. Fact must out weight opinions. There are many opinions, but facts hold truth.
N � Negotiate. At times we must negotiate to ensure fairness is provided to all parties.

Be careful with the actions of your life for the Lord God will weight them and see whether they bear good or bad fruit.

Genesis 21:11-17 (NIV)
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, �Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.�14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba. 15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, �I cannot watch the boy die.� And as she sat there, she began to sob. 17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, �What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.

This is the promise of Ishmael becoming a great nation, as he fathered the nomadic Arab nations.



In the Old Testament Abraham cannot have a child with his wife, Sarah. So, she gives him her handmaiden Hagar. With Hagar Abraham has a child, a son, Ishmael.

Eventually, though, in her old age Sarah conceives of a child with divine help. That child is Isaac. After the birth of her son, Sarah forces Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away from their home. Although, in the Qur�an, it is Allah who tells Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael into the desert.

While some Jews and Christians believe they are descendents of Isaac, Muslims believe they are the inheritors of Ishmael�s legacy � that they, along with Jews and Christians, are the �children of Abraham�.

And they believe it was Ishmael, not Isaac, Abraham almost sacrificed to God. The sparing of Ishmael�s life is celebrated with the festival Eid ul-Adha. When God spared Ishmael, the boy was replaced with a ram � it is because of this Muslims make animal sacrifices during the festival.

Ishmael is highly regarded in Islam for his goodness and wisdom. After wandering in the desert with his mother � Hagar�s search for water is reenacted during the Hajj each year � they settled in Mecca. There it is believed Ishmael built the Ka�aba with Abraham. [http://muslimvoices.org/ishmael-islam/; Muslim Voices; Ishmael and Islam; by Rosemary Pennington; December 10, 2008]


Abraham had two sons. Ishmael was born by his slave Hagar. The second son Issac was later born to the wife of Abraham. While Ishmael did not found Islam, those who were descendants of Ishmael followed the teachings of Muhammad. Today there are struggles of two great nations, Christians and Muslims, which began long ago due to Abraham and Sarah not listening closely to God. A generation of family problems has lasted for thousands of years..

Pray that healing for the family of Abraham can take place so there may be peace across the world. We are the �children of Abraham�, may God bring peace back into the family.

John 8:12 (NLT)

Jesus, the Light of the World
12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, �I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won�t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.�

Jesus Christ is the light of the world. One of the rabbies saith, Light is the name of the Messiah, as it is written, Dan. 2:22, And light dwelleth with him. God is light, and Christ is the image of the invisible God; God of gods, Light of lights. He was expected to be a light to enlighten the Gentiles (Lu. 2:32), and so the light of the world, and not of the Jewish church only. [Matthew Henry Commentary]



One weekend, author Paul Tripp gave his teenage son permission to spend the weekend at a friend's house. But during the weekend Paul received a call from the friend's mother, informing him that Paul's son was not at her home. (Her son had felt guilty about covering for Paul's son and confessed to his mom.) After Paul told his wife about their son's deception, Paul said, "Luella could feel my anger, and she said, 'I think you need to pray.' I said, 'I don't think I can pray for him right now.' She said, 'I didn't mean for you to pray for him; I think you need to pray for you.'"

Paul writes:

I went to my bedroom to pray for God's help, and it hit me that, because of his love, God had already begun a work of rescue in my son's life. God was the one who pressed in on the conscience of my son's friend, causing him to confess to his mom. God was the one who gave her the courage to make that difficult call to me. And God was the one giving me time to get a hold of myself before my son came home. Now, rather than wanting to rip into my son, I wanted to be part of what this God of grace was doing in this moment of rebellion, deception, hurt, and disappointment.

After giving his son a couple of hours to relax upon his return, Paul asked him if they could talk.

"Do you ever think about how much God loves you?" Paul asked his son.

"Sometimes," he answered.

"Do you ever think how much God's grace operates in your life every day?"

His son looked up but didn't speak.

"Do you know how much God's grace was working in your life even this weekend?"

"Who told you?" his son asked.

Paul said:

"You have lived your life in the light. You've made good choices. You've been an easy son to parent, but this weekend you took a step toward the darkness. You can live in the darkness if you want. You can learn to lie and deceive. You can use your friends as your cover � You can step over God's boundaries. Or you can determine to live in God's light. I'm pleading with you: don't live in the darkness; live in the light."

"As I turned to walk away," Paul wrote, "I heard his voice from behind me saying, 'Dad, don't go.' As I turned around, with tears in his eyes, he said, 'Dad, I want to live in the light, but it's so hard. Will you help me?'" [Paul David Tripp, Forever: Why You Can't Live Without It (Zondervan, 2011), pp. 151-153]

John 11:25 (NIV)
25 Jesus said to her, �I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;

Those who place their faith in Christ as The Savior will have eternal life after death in this world.




A friend of mine used to work as a denominational official in Minnesota. One of his jobs was to travel to little rural communities where they didn't have churches to do funerals. He would go out with an undertaker, and they would drive together in the undertaker's hearse. One time, they were on their way back from a funeral, and my friend, John, was feeling quite tired. He decided he would take a nap. Since they were in a hearse, he thought, Well, I'll just lie down in the back of the hearse.

Sounds like kind of a creepy thing to do, but this is a true story. The guy who was driving the hearse pulled into a service station, because he was running low on gas. The service station attendant was filling up the tank and he was kind of freaked out, because there was a body stretched out in the back. While he was filling the tank, John woke up, opened his eyes, knocked on the window and waved at the attendant. John said he never saw anybody run so fast in his whole life. [John Ortberg, "The Empty Tomb: How Will You Respond?" Menlo Park Presbyterian Church]


We don�t expect the dead to come back to life, but that is exactly what happens upon death in this mortal world. The question is will you place your faith in Jesus Christ to be with Him when that moment happens for you.

Proverbs 9:9 (NKJV)
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

The words of the teacher tell us that those who are wise will increase in wisdom. Teach a just person and their learning will increase. These things are difficult for the foolish and evil ones.




On February 22, 1911, Gaston Hervieu climbed the Eiffel Tower to test a new parachute for pilots. He checked the wind, took a nervous breath, and began the test. His silk parachute filled with air, then sailed safely to the ground. Hervieu did not make the jump himself; he used a 160-pound test dummy. To one man this was an outrage. Franz Reichelt was an Austrian tailor who was developing a parachute of his own. He denounced Hervieu's use of a dummy as a "sham" and, one year later, on the morning of Sunday, February 4, 1912, arrived at the Eiffel Tower to conduct his own experiment.

As Reichelt posed for pictures he announced, "I am so convinced my device will work properly that I will jump myself." Gaston Hervieu pulled him aside and tried to stop him. Hervieu claimed there were technical reasons why Reichelt's parachute would not work. The two men had a heated discussion until, finally, Reichelt walked away.

Modern parachutes use 700 square feet of fabric and should be deployed only above 250 feet; Reichelt's parachute used less than 350 square feet of fabric, and he deployed it at 187 feet. He had neither the surface area nor the altitude needed to make a successful jump. Hervieu was not the only one who had told Reichelt that his parachute suit would not work. It had also been rejected by a team of experts who told him, "The surface of your device is too small. You will break your neck."

He not only ignored experts, he also ignored his own data. He tested his parachute using dummies, and they crashed. He tested his parachute by jumping thirty feet into a haystack, and he crashed. He tested his parachute by jumping twenty feet without a haystack, and he crashed and broke his leg. Instead of changing his invention, he clung to his bad idea in the face of all evidence and advice.

Reichelt fell for four seconds, accelerating constantly, until he hit the ground at sixty miles an hour, making a cloud of frost and dust and a dent six inches deep. He was killed on impact. [Adapted from Kevin Ashton, How to Fly a Horse (Doubleday, 2015), pp. 88-89]


May we never be as blind and foolish as to disregard the teachings and advice of others! Envy blinded Reichelt and he would not listen to others or take note of his own observations of failure.

Let us always be willing to listen and see the foolishness of our own ways.