What Time Is It?

What time and season is it for you?

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace. “

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Be aware of the time, and the times.

Sunday Spiritual – Easter

Just me being me on this significant day called Easter.

The resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Christ, is one of the most well documented events in human history. He was executed, confirmed dead, his body made ready for burial, then placed in a guarded tomb. He was not present in the tomb on the 3rd day. This was verified. But it wasn’t just that the tomb was empty. He then appeared bodily to many, hundreds, actually. This was documented as well. He spoke to those to whom he appeared, further explained what was up, what it all meant,  how he had told them about it, that he was leaving to go back to the heavenly realm, and that he would  send the “one my Father promised,” the Holy Spirit.

The doctor, Luke, carefully records this in his letter to Theophilus, which we now call the gospel of Luke. Many chose to undertake to write an account of the life of Christ and Luke’s account stuck, along with the accounts from Matthew, Mark and John.

Here’s a brief account from the end of Luke’s letter, with direct quotes from Jesus, after he rose from the dead:

“Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.

He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things.” – Luke 24:45-48

I never knew anything about this until I was 19 years old, when I heard about it for the first time. At 24 years old it became life changing. Literally. That was when I felt such a great burning with the reality of this truth, that I had to make a commitment and follow Jesus.

It is just too good to keep bottled up. Anyone who knows me, should know that if I can be forgiven eternally and walk in peace, anyone can. I don’t deserve it, but none of us do. We’re all cracked pots. Thanks to everyone who helped along my path. There were many, some of whom may be reading this.

Personally, I dont think the questions are whether Jesus existed or not, or whether he really died or not, or really overcame death to live again or not. That’s old stuff.  I think the question is “What are we going to do about it?”

There’s another life. It’s available here and after our time has passed here. Life to life.

Happy Easter.

He is Risen. And that makes everything different.

Tomorrow

Proverbs 27:1 “Do not brashly announce what you’re going to do tomorrow; you don’t know the first thing about tomorrow.” (The Message version)

“I’ll do that tomorrow.” “Tomorrow things will be better.” “Tomorrow I am going to do (fill in the blank.)”

Maybe it’s okay to do that “thing” tomorrow because we can only get so much done in one day. We all have to manage our energy.

The idea of things getting better tomorrow is purely subjective, unless we plan to make ourselves better tomorrow; to build our mindset and character to respond better to tomorrow, or to make a better tomorrow. It’s based on the human quality of hope.

Planning to do something tomorrow is fine as well. Why not have plan? Planning is good, looking to the future is good. We humans have that innate character and image of our Creator God in order to envision what a plan for tomorrow may look like.

But tomorrow doesn’t really exist. Tomorrow is a hope that we’ve come to expect based on all the past “tomorrows” which are now yesterday’s. Tomorrow actually is an abstract. We hope tomorrow will come, we think tomorrow will come, and we expect tomorrow will come. That’s alright. But there’s no guarantees. So we can’t announce boldly with certainty what we WILL DO tomorrow. We don’t control or govern the turning of the planet and the reality of tomorrow.

If tomorrow comes, we don’t know what it will bring with it. The world, sickness, nature, lava flows, gravity, careless texters, cancer, the stock market, and other forces beyond our control don’t care about our agenda. COVID19 has proven that; one day everything was fine, the next day, COVID. Our health was good today, but now the blood test revealed an issue. My friend was cancer free, and tomorrow he’s not. September 10th was fine, September 11th changed the world. You get the picture.

My attitude is to say, “If the Lord wills, I’d like to do “this or that” tomorrow, but let’s see what the day brings.”

Let’s not put off until tomorrow what can get done or said today. Let’s plan to move ahead with confidence into the future, but know that the future is still not assured.

Today is the day. Now is the time. Let’s work on our mind, body, soul and spirit to be able to endure in increasing measure whatever tomorrow may bring, good or bad. Let’s approach any tomorrow with gratitude and thanksgiving for life, breath, and hope.