Good evening Walter,
Here are my devotions. As always, feel free to edit as you see fit, and thank you for letting me participate. I am always blessed when I do this.

Stay warm!
Jim...

2014.03.02. Devotions. Questions About The Future.

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Questions about the future.
Monday.

In our lesson this week, Jesus is asked about the future and what would happen and when. I think that everyone has these questions. Even Adam and Eve.

Genesis 2:24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Everything was literally perfect for the young couple. But despite that, I'm sure they wondered about the things ahead. Would there be other people? What are children? Why do apples look so nice?

In 1914, Herbert and Alice were also a young couple. That year saw the first scheduled airline flight from St. Petersburg to Tampa on January first. The first stone of the Lincoln memorial was put in place, and Babe Ruth made his baseball debut. And WW1 began. And as they held hands and wondered what the future would bring, they didn't know that in three years they would have a son named John. They didn't know Alice would die young, and Herbert would marry Thelma and have two more children. They couldn't guess that during WW2 John would serve in Pearl Harbor after the Japanese bombing in 1941. But. God did. Herbert and Thelma were very active in their church. John survived his military duty. Herbert died in 1963 and Thelma survived him by 30 years honoring Herbert's memory and serving her Lord while ministering to family and friends.

Join me today in thinking back about those long gone on who loved and trusted God. And think about the continuity of wonder about the future.

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Tuesday.

Joshua 6:1 Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in."

Improbabilities. I can't imagine anyone involved in this story really expected the walls to fall down, especially those inside. But as unlikely as it was, Joshua led the people, and they followed His direction and God delivered. Sometimes, just doing what's right even when you aren't sure is all God wants of us.

In 1940, John and Myrtle had yet to meet. Nylon hose had just been invented and were the market rage. Americans were earning more and buying more as the Great Depresion was finally beginning to ease. They didn't know how the war would impact the country girl from West Virginia or the city boy from Tennessee. Their meeting in DC. The two sons and four grandchildren; the alcoholism that would follow John much of his life; her Parkinson's and his dementia. Or the 50+ years or marriage! Who could have known two people from such different backgrounds would meet, and build a life together. Only God.

Today I marvel at the the confluence of improbable events that God uses as time plays out across the universe we live in.

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Wednesday.

Luke 15:11 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons.

Whose shoes feel more comfortable to you? The prodigal son, or his father? Who had more questions of what the future would hold? Who was more confident. Even arrogant? And who was standing, day after day, not knowing when, or if, but praying God would bring his son home. Questions about the future? Anyone facing the first real move to adulthood of leaving home has them.

The year was 1980. Ronald Reagan was elected president and John Lennon was murdered. Herbert's grandson was a young man who had been married for two years and was nearing the end of his college journey. Little did Jim realize that despite his planning, knowledge, and preparation, he was merely rolling the dice of life for the first time. He loved his Tennessee friends and family, and the Great Smoky Mountains. He was already a deacon in his church and sang in a band. Church softball twice a week and choir practice on Wednesday. Life was good.

A good job and new, wonderful friends were waiting for him. He never expected to live in Texas. Or São Paulo, Brasil. Or Florida. Or Indiana. He didn't realize what wonderful things he would see and do or the great experiences that were ahead. Things like flights in private business jets and vacations in places like the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, the jungles of Manaus, and the snowy slopes of Breckinridge were in his future, but beyond his imagination. Our young college graduate to be didn't think much about things like divorce. He never thought about how lonely it can be in a city with millions of people. The challenges of raising children, a mortgage and unemployment, finding new friends or having loved ones die, or dealing with deadly diseases were far away, but still there below the horizon.

Pray with me today for those of any age who are still seeking their own place in today's world. It can be cold and lonely out there, and we don't know what the future holds. And even I'd we know the One who holds the future, we all need someone who loves us looking out for us, and praying for us.

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Thursday

2 Samuel 11:1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.

David was one of the most successful kings to ever live. At the time of this verse, who would have thought that he would become an adulterer and a murderer? Other tragedies were ahead. His daughter raped, and his son hung. As he looked upon the young lady bathing, he didn't expect that kind of a future, as he was much more accustomed to success. But we must all learn that each of our actions changes things. And David was a man who repented and is called a man after God's own heart.

It was 1995 when OJ Simpson was found not guilty, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame first opened its doors. Jim and Tracy first looked down of the little girl named Haley. They prayed for her to be healthy and to have a wonderfully full and blessed life. They worried if they could raise a daughter and how she would grow. They didn't know the joys or challenges ahead, or the temptations they all would face to do less than their best for God. They didn't expect the sprains, strains, and breaks Haley's gymnastics career would provide. They had no idea that leukemia would strike the family, or that what sounded like a bad movie - necrotizing fasciitis - would result in five surgeries in one week. They didn't appreciate the blessings they would know and come to take for granted. But they knew their God was the answer. And they prayed, and ponderd the questions in their hearts, as they sought to follow Him.

Join me today in doing all we can to avoid temptations by doing the things we should and seeking to continually know God better, so we can be found worthy to be called His own.

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Friday

Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

As the apostle John wrote these words, he was wondering what the world would come to. He saw sin and hate around him, and a struggling church seeking to know and follow the Savior. But he couldn't describe the vision he saw. He tried to put it into words and help us understand, but today, I sit alone in my "man room" and wonder the same things.

Now we live in 2014, and, like John, we find a world full of division and sin. Wars and rumors of wars abound. Russia raising its militant head again. Americans more focused on differences and feelings than principle and truth. The world much smaller, but its tenants more divided.

Jim and Tracy have come a long way from the time Herbert and Alice knew. And yet, many similarities remain. We are getting older. Can we care for our family as we want to? What will happen to Nick and Haley in the years to come? What will happen to our country, and the world as the years pass? Will the leukemia stay in remission so Tracy can truly live and enjoy the remaining years? Can Jim retire at some point and spend more time with Tracy? After retirement, what will we do? How can we continue to serve our Lord? Where will we live? Who will be our friends?

Whether it was the people talking to Jesus, the apostle John and the biblical characters, or people just like us, we all wonder. What's ahead? What will happen? When will we be with Jesus, and what will that be like? And the answer, in Jim's paraphrase remains essentially the same. Follow me, and believe.

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