Unworthy and helpless I stood alone,
Crying for help from my God.
Life seemed unlivable, chilled to the bone,
Longing to lie ‘neath the sod.
Yet when I cried out, the very next day,
A brother appeared where I served.
Each heart cry was answered, in Jesus the way,
Such grace that I never deserved.
Then fellowship daily with like-minded saints,
Brought peace, comfort, hope, love, and joy.
I replaced thoughts of praise for those sad, past complaints,
So thankful to be “Father’s boy.”
Years later, my wife, the perfect help mete,
Fulfilled all my deep heart desire.
Each moment together so rich and so sweet,
Love blossomed into a true fire.
And now with grandchildren, our son, his dear wife,
Blessings pour forth and abound.
God’s kindness in Christ throughout all my life,
Is the greatest love I’ve ever found.
When we are born again we have eternal life through Christ. But what should WE DO with our lives?
If you ask a person to tell you who they are, you can get a variety of answers. It could be “an American” or some other nationality. It could be a teacher or lawyer or homemaker or some other employment. It could be a mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, son, daughter, friend or some other relation. It can even be the name of a church group like Catholic, Baptist, Protestant, Buddhist, Muslim, or other religious denomination. But what is our real identity? Jesus told his disciples that he would call them by name because he is a good shepherd.
This has been a very interesting Thanksgiving. Yesterday, as I often do on November 22, I thought back to the day JFK was killed, now sixty years ago. It had a huge impact on our family, and the nuns at our school were deeply hurt at the first Catholic president dying in his relative youth. Life is very precious.
Jesus was the humblest man who ever lived. He always did what his Father wanted. He put others ahead of himself. He could have claimed all his authority as God’s Son and the chosen Messiah to flaunt his power and make a grand show in the world. But God did not call him to do that. Nor has he called us to be egotistical. We are not self-centered, but God-centered. And therefore, like our Lord and Savior, we are service minded.
Some people like to “put the cart before the horse.” At times, I’m one of them. But I’ve been learning that things don’t pull well that way. God’s way is always best.