GlocalNet

Today, I buried a man who found Jesus a couple of years ago.  Not long after that they found a brain tumor.  He ran hard in pursuit of God.  In the worship room where we laid hands on him and asked God to heal him - we celebrated his life.  When we prayed for him, I saw a little kid with a baseball cap laying their hands on him - I thought it might be his child - it wasn’t - it was a lady who has battled cancer for 10 years - she had no hair from the chemo - though she knew her prognosis she was praying asking God to heal someone else.  She was incredible - the kindest most positive person I’ve ever met in my life facing something like that.  I buried her last month. 

A month ago I buried an ex-marine who helped us start our church.  When we began to pray about working in Vietnam - I really didn’t want to.  It was another church member’s idea - I was getting heat for wanting to work with “Commies” in Vietnam, but this man stood up for me and said we should do it - he didn’t realize I was ready to back out.  I loved that man deeply; he was a rock for me. 

Last night I went to see my dad who had been taken to the emergency room in Tyler - lots of problems.  When we got him in a room - as wild it was, he was in the room next to my father-in-law who had gone in the hospital a day earlier due to dialysis complications.  I sat in the hospital with my mom, herself in horrible shape, but none the less there for my dad, her body in pain. 

I always think of Ps 90:12 “Lord teach us to number our days” because we don’t live forever.  Enjoy life.  Live for what matters.  Live for who matters.  Be a servant to humanity.  I believe all these things.  But at the end of the day the parade comes to an end.  Those of us who hope in Jesus can say with Paul “O grave where is your victory, o death where is your sting?” 

We have good reason to think we are never going to die - we aren’t.  Ecclesiastes teaches us that God has built eternity in all our hearts.  The only question is, where are we going to spend that eternity?  Jesus wants to bring life to every single creature through what he did on the cross.  Some men try to be good enough to get to go to heaven. Jesus was good enough so all men could go to heaven and that heaven begins the moment we accept him as our savior, not when we die.  Death is merely passing from one state to another.  If heaven was dependent on my goodness, how could I have any hope?  I couldn’t.  Even if I was outwardly good enough - I know the darkness of my own heart - and with God, that matters as much as the actions that flow out of the heart.  How could I know when I’d been good enough?  How could I know I’d ever sensed the true presence of God if I didn’t know Him.  Of all people, I’d never be a pastor - I’d have no basis for giving hope - what business would I have telling men how to meet God, if I had no confidence that I’d met him and was guiding men the way I was going?  This is what I love about Jesus - it’s a relationship with a person - not merely a set of propositional truths. 

My deepest longing is that my family, my friends, the nations I love, the cultures and tribes I love, all will find this Jesus - and may there be enough of that Jesus in me that makes them at least ask.