Have you ever asked yourself what’s next? On July 13, 2014, I asked that question before a congregation. I was preparing to travel for a long distant funeral service on the 18th of a very deal friend. She had asked me a year earlier, should the moment occur, would I be present to perform her funeral service. It was indeed an honor to celebrate her life. Though I will not give out names, my prayer is that some readers of this will know how much she was loved. Just years earlier, we shared many enjoyable times together with her husband and my wife while on an overseas assignment. In those days, I certainly was not qualified to even think about everlasting life as I lived strictly in the moment. I asked myself what’s next back then and still ask that question even today. So back in 2014, while I was planning a trip to England for the funeral, I was asking myself what should I say, how should I prepare? Funerals in this country have a little more flexibility but in England where land space and time are perhaps more restrictive, 30 minutes is all we had. I was making a 9 hour trip for a 30 minute service! That’s right and I would do it again in a heartbeat. It is not the length of time that matters but the moment in time. I believe a second of God’s time is equivalent to an eternity of our time. In the weeks that follow this message, I will be sharing more of the moment in time experience that helped strengthen my resolve to continue on faith.
Matthew 13, tells the story of the sower of seeds. Some seeds fell on a pavement only to be eaten by birds, where other seeds fell onto rocky ground but died quickly as no soil to sustain growth, still other seeds fell within weeds and thorns only to be choked then finally some seeds fell on good soil producing good fruit. I believe we should never give up on ourselves or others. Instead, we should always ask for help to determine what is next. Is it going to be a rough road sometimes? Yes. Are we going to have our dreams shattered sometimes? Yes. Are we going to give up temporarily? Perhaps. But, do we give up in sowing seeds or do we search for the next step? I am guilty of being a bad seed, but thanks to divine intervention, continue to grow.
Experiences, whether lengthy or points of time, are all part of our lives and we should rejoice in the good times and take the bad times as things we are given to improve our endurance. In Romans 8, the Spirit of Life sets us free from the sin and death for the Spirit dwells in us all.
The following audio is about 2 minutes long. I cut out all of the details to only cover Romans then the last part of Matthew. In the weeks to come, I will be sharing more audios back in 2014.
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