LIFE IS SHORT

We have once again been reminded this week that life is short.

A godly man from our former church... a husband, father, grandfather, deacon and building contractor....a man dedicated to missions....was tragically killed last Saturday when he fell from a construction project he was working on with a missions team from his church. Robert was 73 years old, but was still going strong. He worked on every project that his church had undertaken at this location over the past number of years. He had made many friends there as he did every where he went.

He was doing what he loved. He had been in the building business all his life. He had overseen numerous church building projects...the most recent of which was just dedicated a few weeks ago. And, here he was again, working on a home for a couple, not for pay, but out of his love for his Lord and his desire to serve Him.

Everyone has been devastated by this loss, not the least of which is his precious wife and family. Our hearts grieve with them and for them in this terrible loss.

Yet it reminds each of us that our days are numbered. We do not have any guarantee that we will see another day. God holds the number of our days in His hands. Only He knows. Our life is but a vapor...here today and gone tomorrow.

Some days it seems that life is so hard that Heaven cannot come soon enough. Yet on other days we long to remain as long as we possibly can, to enjoy our loved ones, to watch our grandchildren grow, to have the joy of making a difference in someone else's life.

As life flies by, we begin to realize that we can't afford to waste our days here on earth. We must make every day count. We need to make a difference...at least in someone's life. We as believers need to be about Kingdom business...about sharing Him with those who do not know Him. We need to be about what Robert was about....pointing others to Jesus.

One day the last grain of sand will fall through the tunnel of our life's hour glass. We will breathe out last breath and be gone from this earth. It will not matter how much money we made, how big a house we had, or to what level of success we climbed in the corporate world. As someone said "You never see a Brink's truck following a hearse to the cemetary". In other words, we can't take it with us. The only thing we can take with us are those who know our Savior, for they will one day join us. Everything else will vanish away.

So it behooves each of us to contemplate what we are spending our time on, expending our efforts on and investing our money in. Time is running out for all of us. It may be shorter than we even know. Therefore, let us run with endurance the race set before us, pointing others to Jesus every chance we get and in every way we can so that at the end...whenever that end comes, we can, like Robert, hear our Savior say "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." That is the only prize worth living for.

FRUITFUL in the LAND OF SUFFERING

II Timothy 3:1 " But realize this...that in the last days, difficult times will come."

Many are suffering today. Our economic crisis is wreaking havoc on lives of famlilies across our nation. It is in these tough times that our faith will be tested. It is in the furnace of affliction that what is within will rise to the top.

Os Hillman has a word today, for those who are suffering. May you be found fruitful in the place of YOUR suffering today:


Fruitful Suffering

TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1

by Os Hillman

Wednesday, February 25 2009.

.."It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering." - Genesis 41:52


Joseph named his second son Ephraim. Ephraim was given to him after he had been delivered from his suffering of 13 years. Joseph said that he named him this because God had made him fruitful in the land of his suffering. Ephraim means "twice fruitful."


Joseph was fruitful in two instances. He was fruitful during his time of adversity and in his prosperity. When God brings us into a time of suffering, it can be a fruitful time. It's rare for us to see the fruit during the suffering period. But know that the roots are going deep into the spiritual soil of our soul because of our pressing in to God during our time of suffering. This is producing a work in our character that cannot be seen until it finishes the process. Such was the case for Joseph.


It was not until several years after such a time of suffering that I began to see the fruit of the trials that the Lord allowed me to experience. How grateful I am to understand some of the "why" that has led to a new life in Him that I would never have had without this period.
Samson had great anointing but lacked character. We see many today who have great anointing yet lack character. But God is rising up Josephs who not only have great anointing for these days but also great character. Suffering produces character.


If you find yourself in a time of suffering, now is the time to press into God. Let your roots grow deeper. Whenever there is a famine, tree roots are forced to drive deeper into the soil to find water. These times are designed to create such a deep-rooted faith that our natures will be changed forever.