Jacks recorded “Seasons in the Sun” in Vancouver in 1973. The song is about saying goodbye to a childhood friend, a dad, and a girl who always kept him standing. Does art imitate life or does life imitate art? This is the age-old question. My personal belief is that some of the oldies make us think of reality more so than much of contemporary Christian music. Not that the oldies have the answers, but they sure emphasize the questions that people struggle to find answers to.

I wish I could sing it for you, but since I can’t sing, here are the lyrics:

Goodbye to you my trusted friend
We’ve known each other since we were nine or ten
Together we’ve climbed hills and trees
Learned of love and ABC’s
Skinned our hearts and skinned our knees
Goodbye my friend it’s hard to die
When all the birds are singing in the sky

Goodbye Papa please pray for me
I was the black sheep of the family
You tried to teach me right from wrong
Too much wine and too much song
Wonder how I got along

We had joy, we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
But the wine and the song
Like the seasons have all gone

Goodbye Michelle my little one
You gave me love and helped me find the sun
And every time that I was down
You would always come around
And get my feet back on the ground
Goodbye Michelle it’s hard to die
When all the birds are singing in the sky
Now that the spring is in the air
With the flowers everywhere
I wish that we could both be there

Life is a tremendous gift that comes from God and is required to end at some period of time. All those things we find enjoyable are only for a season. Who are we? Where did we come from? Why are we here? Why death? Where will we be when this season is done? Only one book has the answers to all these questions and that is the Bible.

Ephesians 2:8

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

Think about it.

Gary

I was probably seven years old when I was either invited or had invited myself to stay overnight at a friend’s house.  They had a policy that everyone went to bed at the same time which was much earlier than our family tradition. Sleep eluded me and an uncomfortable feeling of homesickness raised its ugly head.

After some deep thought, I climbed out of bed, got my winter clothes on and sneaked out the door. That’s when I realized the obstacles along my way home. First of all it was snowing, secondly it was a mile to my house, thirdly there was a graveyard to pass and lastly there was a one-way bridge to cross. Plus, there was a neighbor’s dog by the name of Hunter that enjoyed terrorizing any passersby. The graveyard was the most fearful because you never knew when a ghost would come after you. I closed my eyes tightly some 200 feet before and only opened them about 200 feet after I passed.  I continued to walk hurriedly.

What a heartwarming sight to see the old house come into view. There’s no place like home. Dorothy sure had that right in “The Wizard of Oz.”

Sixty-one years later I’m sitting here and I’m once again lonesome for home. No, not the one back there because it’s long gone and we can’t turn back time; it’s the one that lies ahead that has been promised to us by God.

John 14:1-2

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 

Think about it.

Gary

Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines roared back to life after 600 years of quiet slumber in 1991.

When asked to account for the incredible destruction caused by this volcano, a research scientist from the Philippine department of volcanology observed, “When a volcano is silent for many years, our people forget that it’s a volcano and begin to treat it like a mountain.”

MATTHEW 7 contains the illustration of the wise man and the foolish man who both involved themselves in building a life:

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

What have you started to treat as only a mountain in your life?

Give it some thought.

Gary

I don’t know where the word bogan came from, but in my hometown it was an inlet from the river surrounded on three sides by land. Our bogan would freeze up well before the river did and made an excellent place to skate. Most of us kids had figure skates so we could do crazy stuff on the ice. Discarded car tires provided the fuel for the fires by which we stayed warm. (There might have been some not so discarded, I couldn’t say). The local merchant would provide us a little gas to help ignite the tires.

Never considering the danger involved, we would skate down to where the river flowed free and the ice stopped. That’s the thing about youth and the total disregard for safety.  Thankfully, no one ever broke through the ice because the water was deep and the current swift.

As I sit here writing this, a chill goes up my spine when I consider all the things that could have gone wrong in those days. One verse comes to mind that gives me the assurance that God was with me even in the days of my ignorance:

Psalm 23:6

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;

Take a long look back and maybe you’ll spot the hand of God protecting you in your youthful ignorance.

Think about it.

Gary

Lynda Randle is one of my favorite gospel singers and I especially love her rendition of “God on the Mountain.” This hymn is taken from the historical account of the king of Syria believing that Israel’s God was the God of the mountains but not the God of the valleys. Was he ever mistaken!  However, many a Christian needs to experience this divine fact.

For the God on the mountain
Is still God in the valley
When things go wrong
He’ll make them right
And the God of the good times
Is still God in the bad times
The God of the day
Is still God in the night

1 Kings 20:28

Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Because the Syrians have said, “The Lord is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys,” therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.’

Life has mountain top experiences when heaven is clearly visible, but it also has valleys where the dark shadows of doubt can be overwhelming. Both sets of circumstances should find us acknowledging our great God.

Give it some thought, Job.

Gary

One of the many stories from my hometown is about two old-timers who went to camp deep in the forest. During the night, they were awakened by the terrible growl of a black bear in the distance. One turned to the other and said, “How many shells do you have for the rifle?” with a trembling voice and in a whisper his companion replied, “Only six.”

When one is confronted by terror, it just seems like there is never enough protection. There’s a verse about misjudging situations and making them more than what reality reveals.

Proverbs 26:13

The lazy man says, “There is a lion in the road! A fierce lion is in the streets!”

He was wrong and only making up a story. Do you fabricate lions sometimes?

Think about it.

Gary

“Blessed Assurance” is a well-known Christian hymn. The lyrics were written in 1873 by blind hymn writer Fanny Crosby to the music written in 1873 by Phoebe Knapp.

Crosby was visiting her friend Phoebe Knapp as the Knapp home was having a large pipe organ installed. The organ was incomplete, so Mrs. Knapp, using the piano, played a new harmony she had just composed. When Knapp asked Crosby, “What do you think the tune says?” Crosby replied, “Blessed assurance; Jesus is mine.”

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine
Heir of salvation, purchase of God
Born of His spirit, washed in His blood

Perfect submission, all is at rest
I in my Savior, am happy and blessed
Watching and waiting, looking above
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love

This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long

Assurance, according to the dictionary, is a positive declaration intended to give confidence; a promise.

Insurance, according to the dictionary, is a thing providing protection against a possible eventuality.

In Christ we have both assurance and insurance.

Trust no one but Christ for your salvation and you will experience the blessing from God’s Word of both assurance and insurance.

2 Timothy 1:12

For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

Think about it.

Gary