Choices

 

D.L.Moody, the great evangelist of a hundred years ago, told the story of a man buying a ticket on a stagecoach headed west.  The ticket agent asked, “Do you want a first-class ticket, or a second-class ticket, or a third-class ticket?”  The man thought a moment and asked the ticket agent, “Don’t they all ride in the same coach?”  “Oh yes,” the agent said.”  So the man bought a third-class ticket and saved his money.  But after all of the passengers had gotten into the stagecoach, the driver called down, “When we come to a hill, first class passengers stay in the coach.  Second class passengers please get out and walk.  Third class passengers get out and push.”  Have you ever made a poor decision and found that it was too late to have a “do-over”?  It happens to me all of the time.  David found himself in such a situation and lamented in Psalm 42:5, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.”  The good Lord delights in helping His children.  He likes to come to your rescue.  When you find out in life that your third-class ticket wasn’t such a bargain, cry out to the Lord.  He will help you and he will rescue you.  You can always depend upon God.

Lost?

 

I was at her birthday party Tuesday, and nine-year-old Lilly said a profound quote: “It’s not really lost until mamma can’t find it.”  Such confidence in her mother.  A statement of faith and a statement of dependence.  Hey, I’m glad that the dear Lord knows where I am.  I am never lost to Him.  God knows everything and someday, everything will come to light.  Luke 12:2, “For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.”  Confidence in God and yet haunting for us.  Will you be glad on that day or will you be embarrassed?  Work a little more for the dear Lord today.  Love Him a little more and let Him work through you today.  You’ll be glad that you did.

Half-Runner Beans

 

When my mother moved down south into Dominion Senior Living in Hixson, Tennessee, we left her house in Maryland as it was for some time.  But to access needed funds, the three of us adult children decided to sell the old home place.  My brother in Maryland inventoried the household items and we all got whatever we wanted as mementos and keepsakes.  I received an old shoe-shine box that I had made in Mr. Swearingen’s shop class in 1961.  Inside of the shoe-shine box, my brother had added a few small items from mom’s house.  One item was a sealed mason jar with half-runner bean seeds in it that my Granny Whitely had saved from one gardening season to the next.  I planted one of those seeds and, to my surprise, it sprouted!  Granny had put a date on the jar of 1989!  Hey, the reason that the half-runner seed had sprouted was that it had life in it.  Paul put it this way in Ephesians 2:1, “And you hath he quickened (made alive), who were dead in trespasses and sins.”  Just as moisture, sunlight, and warmth made that half-runner seed to sprout, the blessed Holy Spirit has made us alive in Jesus Christ!  Our salvation is bought and paid for by the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ! Hey, have you become part of God’s forever family?  Why not make your decision for Christ today?  You’ll be glad that you did.