1-27-2019

Good Morning All,

         Revelation 22:5; “There will be no more night, and they will not need any light from lamps or the sun because the Lord God will shine on them. They will rule as kings forever and ever.”

    One of my favorite television shows was M*A*S*H.  In one episode, one of the characters receives a mystery novel from home to read.  Well soon the whole camp wants to read it so as the person who received the book as a gift finished a page, he tore it out and passed it on to the next guy.  Soon you saw everyone in the camp with a piece of the book.  As the original reader got to the end of the book, the last page was missing.  The page that accused the murderer and offered the proof was missing.  Now everyone was in a panic.  Each person offered their guess or opinion but soon these guesses were proven wrong by someone else. In a last gasp of effort to resolve the mystery, they attempted to call the author and ask her who did it.  The problem was the author was in her late nineties and thought the war in Korea was about Sun-Yat-Sen and couldn’t remember even writing the book.

    It is kind of ironic.  I remember all those details about the show, but I don’t remember how it ended.  The name of the book was “The Rooster crows at Midnight” but I don’t remember how the show ends.  Somewhat ironic, a show about not knowing how the book ends and I don’t remember how the show ends.  It can be very frustrating when you don’t know how it ends.  It can be very frustrating when you want to know, you need to know but you don’t know how it ends. 

    I am trying to diet again, how will it end?  Probably like the last dozen or so have ended.  If you have a doctor’s appointment about a lump on your shoulder, or neck, how will it end?  Is it a lump of fat or is it a malignant tumor?  How will it end?  Grain prices are down, the weather is so-so, between the government shutdown, the trade war, overproduction, uncertainty about how the government funding mess will affect crop insurance; how will it end?

    There is a lot of uncertainty in this life but we can be certain of one thing; Jesus wins in the end.  That is really what the book of Revelation is about; it is the assurance that Jesus wins and when Jesus wins, you win!  Remember how Paul said if we were buried with Him we will have a resurrection like Him. (Rom. 5:5) We win!!  Life eternal with Jesus in the perfected creation is ours because Jesus won this victory on the cross and sealed the deal when he unsealed the tomb and walked out in newness of life.

    As a Christian, there are many things I don’t understand and probably never will.  But I do know this; the victory is ours and nothing will change that.  I might not know how a doctor’s appointment or a financial event or a relationship may end but I know Jesus guarantees us life with him in paradise.  You can look it up.

Father, keep my eyes focused on your great love and bringing about my salvation and giving me hope to know that with you I have eternal life.  Send your spirit to those who doubt so they may know of your calming grace and your peace which surpasses anything the world can give.  In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen!