Great lesson this morning at church from our stand in preacher. His name is Jeff Carey, working on his Dr. at Baylor, teaches Bible at L.C.U. He talked about peace -peace that only God has for us. I want peace, but I look for it in all the wrong places. (To admit guilt and sin on a blog is really easy.) What Jeff talked about this morning was great for me to hear. You can listen to it if you click here.
Katrina is not taking up as much time on the news as it did last week. 9-11 is now 4 years old. I have not heard a thing about the survivors of the tsunami from December in a long time. The war in Iraq gets less press time than it used to. There is a long list of tragedies that are not too old that never get mentioned any more. Why is that? Why do we forget the sadness of the past? I do not want to trivialize or downplay the pain that you or others might be going through from any of the above events.
But when was the last time that we cried about the stock market crash of 1929, or the attacks on Pearl Harbor of 12-41, or the students protesting in China in '89 who lost their lives or any of the other bad events of history. What happens to the sadness of today? Does is really get swallowed up by the heartache of tomorrow? Are the actual victims and participants of these awful events the only ones who truly remember?
I love history. I enjoy placing myself in a previous time period and trying to see what it was really like. But the more I look at history the more I see the sadness that people have always endured. I am not a pessimist that only sees the bad in the world, but I am a realist that admits that life is tough, and pain is real.
What I want and need is peace. I want to be reminded daily that God holds the world in his hands. Jeff spoke this morning about Peace. John 14:27 was his opening verse, "Peace I leave with you, Peace I give to you", but his point came more from vs. 1 - "Do not let your heart be troubled, Trust in God." He made a point that stuck with me - the words out of vs. 1 are normally said as a "hallmark greeting", but they offer the peace that believers live for. The trust in God is what makes this life bearable. Not easy. Not free from pain. Not free from sadness. But bearable. Because we trust in God we can endure the hardship of this life and dream about the next. The peace from God and the trust in God is what gets us through the tragedy of life. This peace and trust is what I need more of.
God bless those who are in the middle of the storm. God bless those who struggle to stay above the pain and sorrow of this world.
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4 comments:
the true pessimist is one that fashions himself as a "realist". I like your post and agree with you. we cant live in the past and feel intense pain every time we see a tragic event just like we can live grieving over personal losses forever.
I really enjoyed Jeff's message Sunday morning myself. Oh, and your part was good also. And your 9-11 article is good, too. Are you really JUST a coach? Lucky kids.
An amazing weekend.
got here from next blog...
Great post!
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