Did you know that the Andromeda Galaxy is eventually going to collide with the Milky Way? The Milky Way is the galaxy in which je vie (I live).

How do we know this? Um, it’s obvious: Humans know everything. I mean, really? If we know about things that are 2.5 million light years away, there can’t be anything we don’t know…right?

This will happen in four billion years. This is the kind of stuff that will keep you up at night. Don’t worry. Captain Kirk will be flying through space in the Enterprise making a way for us. Lieutenant Nyota Uhura will be translating the different languages from various planets.

How about a little reality?  There is an event that is going to take place a lot sooner than four billion years.

2 Peter 3:13

Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Now I plan on still being alive in four billion years but not in this dilapidated vessel, nor on this trashed planet. God’s going to give me a new body to walk through eternity. All of this is because of the finished work of Christ on Calvary.

Think about it.

Gary

Is it possible that you could make the following statements?

“Listen to me carefully. I don’t have all the answers to life’s myriad of questions. My personal belief is that I’m undeserving of all that I was able to enjoy in life. My IQ certainly didn’t match what I’ve, by the grace of God, been able to accomplish. If my friends really knew me, they would terminate the friendship.”

The reason for my question is that once there was a king who wrote something like that:

Psalm 131:1

 Lord, my heart is not haughty,
Nor my eyes lofty.
Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
Nor with things too profound for me.

God said David was a man after His own heart. I believe statements like the aforementioned give us a clue as to why God said that.

Maybe with the help of the Holy Spirit we could also bring ourselves to such a place.

Give it some thought.

Gary

In March 1992 Newsweek magazine mentioned a letter from
the Greenville County, S.C., Dept. of Social Services.
The letter was written to a dead person. It read:

“Your food stamps will be stopped effective immediately,
because we received notice that you passed away.
May God bless you.
You may re-apply if there is a change in your circumstances.”

Two dead men had a conversation in Luke 16:

Luke 16:30-31

And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’

But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ”

No. the food stamps were stopped because the dead can’t come back. This is a one-shot deal, so make sure you’re right with God before your food stamps are shut off forever.

Think about it.

Gary

When I was old enough to get my hunting license, Dad took me for a hunting hike. We would leave the pick up beside a logging road and walk through the woods for hours. I would be behind him with a rifle; now that is a scary thought. Just about the time I believed us to be close to Alaska, we’d step out into a logging road and there would be the truck. Totally confused, I’d make believe I knew exactly where we were.

Now I know the moss grows on the north side of the tree, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and the rivers flow down to the sea. However, when I enter the woods and can no longer see the truck, I’m lost. The sense of direction my father and brother were born with was totally lacking in me.

What a blessing to know the Bible can take us from being lost, to arriving to our eternal home safely. Just like I trusted my father’s guidance, I trust the Word of God.

Isaiah 26:3-4

You keep him in perfect peace
    whose mind is stayed on you,
    because he trusts in you.
Trust in the Lord forever,
    for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

Our heavenly Father is taking us for a long walk through this life. All we have to do is follow and trust. One of these days, we’ll step out into glory.

Think about it.

Gary

He has been dead now for a long time, but he still speaks.  This is the doctor who can encourage us with the proper diet.

He was great on texts, the doctor was. When he had a point to prove, he’d just go through the Bible and drive all the texts ahead of him like a flock of sheep; and then, if there was a text that seemed against him, why, he’d come out with his Greek and Hebrew and kind of chase it around a spell, just as you see a fellow chase a contrary bell-weather, and make him jump the fence after the rest. I tell you, there wasn’t no text in the Bible that could stand against the doctor when his blood was up.

   Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896)

This is exactly what the Scriptures encourage us to do:

Romans 15:4 

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Of all the time-wasting endeavors, the study of the Scriptures will not fit into that category. Throughout eternity, you will be thankful for the investment in the pursuit of truth.

Give it some thought.

Gary

I’d rather eat raisins than go to the mall. Most men understand that sometimes you have to bite the bullet and just go. The alternative is not an option.

At the mall, old guys try to find someone to talk to so the pain and suffering can be relieved for a few minutes. Most of the time, you see these tortured souls congregating in a safe area where seats are available. Most of these men don’t even know one another, but they make believe they do since they have the same goal in common, i.e., to escape from reality.

The Apostle Peter had to face a fact like that when it came his turn to die:

John 21:18

“I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.”

We can’t always have our own way. We must submit.

Think about it.

Gary

I spent kindergarten through high school in the same building. There were ten classrooms with five facing the river and five facing route 161. My time on the riverside didn’t offer any distractions, but route 161 had trucks going by regularly which totally took my mind off the subject being taught. One time, the state police had someone pulled over by the school, and our teacher used it for an object lesson to teach us not to become criminals.

Distractions in life never stopped with my formal education. They continue to the present time and are very annoying.

The Bible discusses distraction:

Luke 10:38-40 

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”

If a legitimate distraction can happen to Martha, it can happen to us. Jesus told her she was temporarily focusing on the wrong thing. Pay attention to what God is teaching you.

Think about it.

Gary