Heart disease remains the top killer of Americans as risk factors continue to grow.  In 2022 — the most recent year for which mortality data is available — a total of 941,652 people died of cardiovascular disease, according to the report. This was more than 10,000 deaths compared to the prior year.

Scary stuff, but let me tell you of a heart condition not mentioned in the article. This condition will follow you into eternity.

Proverbs 4:23 

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Jeremiah 17:9 

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Go to the spiritual cardiologist.

Ezekiel 36:26 

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Give some thought to what God can do.

Gary

It was a three-hour flight from Maine to South Carolina. The temperature changed from 15 degrees to 72 degrees, and so did the landscape, which went from snow-covered ground to dry, parched soil. The opportunity to experience a different world for a few days occurred as a result of my involvement in the funeral for a friend.

Someday, I’ll be taking a flight to another world, with all expenses paid by the Lord Jesus Christ. Unlike the heartache of my experience in South Carolina, there will be no death or separation.  Tears will be a thing of the past.  I’m kind of longing for it.

I′m kind of homesick for a country

To which I’ve never been before.

No sad goodbyes will there be spoken

For time won′t matter anymore.

Beulah Land I’m longing for you

And some day on thee I′ll stand

There my home shall be eternal

Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land

Revelation 21:4 

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Give it some thought.

Gary

Look at some of the titles that have appeared in the tabloids found in grocery store checkout lines: Cow Mattresses Help Cows Produce More Milk – Mom on Diet of Only Chicken, Lays Huge Egg – World War II Bomber Found on The Moon – Women Gives Birth to Two-Year-Old Baby: Child Walks And Talks in Three Days – Adam And Eve’s Bones Found in Asia: Eve Was a Space Alien.

Now, you do understand that people actually buy those magazines. In recent years “fake news” has been a source of much conversation. However, there is a source where the news is accurate and its consumption is of value to the reader. Here it is:

Proverbs 25:25

Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.

1 Peter 1:25

But the word of the Lord remains forever.” And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.

Give it some serious consideration and drop your diet of fake news.

Gary

“Drift Away” is a song written by Mentor Williams in 1970 and first recorded by British singer Mike Berry on his 1972 album Drift Away. It made the charts because so many people are seeking to escape from life’s problems through music.

Day after day I’m more confused
Yet I look for the light through the pourin’ rain
You know that’s a game that I hate to lose
And I’m feelin’ the strain, ain’t it a shame?

Let me suggest a better way of escape:

1 Corinthians 10:13

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 

Hebrews 12:25

See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven,

Give it some thought and turn to the only escape God has provided; it’s found by embracing His Son.

Gary

I heard it on the radio in 1965. It was called “The Eve of Destruction” by Barry McGuire.

Yeah, my blood’s so mad, feels like coagulatin’
I’m sittin’ here just contemplatin’
I can’t twist the truth, it knows no regulation
Handful of senators don’t pass legislation
And marches alone can’t bring integration
When human respect is disintegratin’
This whole crazy world is just too frustratin’

And you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
How you don’t believe
We’re on the eve of destruction

The song references social issues of its period, including the Vietnam War, the draft, the threat of nuclear war, the Civil Rights Movement, turmoil in the Middle East and the American space program.

Well, we’re still here sixty years since that song made the hit parade. The arm chair prophets don’t know what they’re talking about. If you want some accurate prophecy, turn to the Word of God.

2 Peter 1:21

for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Give it some thought and find refuge in Him, not a bomb shelter.

Gary

He was an eighteen-month-old walking around in a large gathering of people and I was observing him. Seeing his dad, the boy started slapping his dad on the knees. The father, however, was too busy talking to take notice. Not getting a response, the little guy turned to look for his mother.

I wonder how many times my own son wanted his dad’s attention and I never gave it to him. Pain grips my heart at the possibility of opportunities missed. Our heavenly Father never does such things.

1 Peter 5:7 

Casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.

Psalm 46:1 

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

He’s been here and He feels our pain. As we like to say, “You can go to Him anytime, anywhere, about anything.”  Give it some thought.

Gary

“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”

― C.S. Lewis

Luke 23:43 

And He said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise.”

2 Corinthians 5:1 

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Give it some careful consideration.

Gary