Welcome to Tuesday, November 1st!!! Are you ready to gain some sleep?
Don't forget that this weekend is the time change! We've stated it on numerous
occasions...why can't we just leave it alone? While there is much bigger things
that they should be focusing on, the first major political party that adopts
repealing Daylight Savings Time gets my vote!!! Speaking of voting, don't forget
to go and do it. Nope, we don't have great candidates in the top spot, however,
when you look behind the curtain, there are some good people trying to make a
difference. Study God's Word about leadership and about Who should be our
King and then go vote!!!
Alas, we are for the time being stuck with the time change. Time to fall back
and get a redo on an hour of our lives. Speaking of redo's, here is another
Tuesday's Musical Note email flasback to September 6, 2011, before Tuesday's
Musical Notes, the blog. And you don't even have to lose or gain any sleep!!!
What a beautiful morning!!! The Summer's grip of heat seems to be broken and
Fall is right around the corner. This is one of my favorite times of the year. We
truly are blessed to live in Arkansas, because we get a complete seasonal shift
most years. Tammy and I lived in Florida for a time and the change of the
seasons was not nearly as pronounced as they are here. Sure we fuss about the
heat and humidity and occasionally about the cold and snow, but we wonder at
the beauty that is Spring and Fall. To me, enduring the Summer and Winter are
usually worth it to have Spring and Fall, the seasons which I look forward to the
most. With the Fall you get football, and in the Spring March Madness. With
the Fall you get God's paintbrush among the foliage and with the Spring, new life
in the form of a multitude of "greens", as well as the wonderful celebration of
Easter. What more could anyone want? There is something better. Something
that as Christians we will attain that is vastly superior to Spring or Fall. A place
in which our imaginations can only scratch the surface of the beauty we are to
behold. A place for which we long. A place that causes us to ponder a future
tomorrow. There are people who would tell you to not dream about tomorrow.
They say that you should live for today. Jesus even told us that we should not
worry about tomorrow. I agree. We shouldn't WORRY about tomorrow, but when
it comes to thinking about tomorrow......"Don't Stop".
July 6, 1977 was an ordinary day. In fact, there are few history making facts
about that day. It was a year after the United States had celebrated the
Bicentennial. It was a couple of days after a holiday. Pink Floyd had a huge
concert in Montreal, Canada and France was doing nuclear testing. Some of us
had graduated 6th grade and were excited and scared about the prospects of
high school might be for us. But the release of a record from a 5 person band
would change the musical landscape as well as the lives of each of the band
members. Heard any "Rumours" lately? You could be one of over 40 million
people worldwide to have purchased Fleetwood Mac's July 6, 1977 release. The
album has been certified 20x platinum in the United States by selling over
20 million copies, making it the 6th best selling album of all time. This is
amazing considering the environment in which it was recorded. Christine and
John McVie had just divorced and weren't speaking, Stevie Nicks and Lindsay
Buckingham were fighting over their relationship, and Mick Fleetwood had just
discovered his wife was having an affair with his best friend. One top of that,
the band recorded in California amidst the excess of the drug culture. Out of all
of that turmoil came "Rumours".
A critic said that one of the reasons for "Rumours" success is that it is
completely full of likable songs. One of the most likable is written by keyboardist
Christine McVie, keyboard player and the only classically trained musician in the
band. It evokes an enthusiasm for, and positive attitude towards the future.
Time to get your smile on......
"If you wake up and don't want to smile
If it takes just a little while
Open your eyes and look at the day
You'll see things in a different way
Don't stop thinking about tomorrow
Don't stop, it'll soon be here
It'll be better than before
Yesterday's gone, yesterday's gone"
Does this contradict what Christ said in regards to thinking about tomorrow?
Please remember the context in which Jesus was speaking. He was talking about
how our lives can get consumed by worry. Jesus was reminding us that God is in
control and we can't add anything to our lives by worrying about it. I think Jesus
was pointing us to what Paul would say about our future.
2 Corinthians 5
Awaiting the New Body
1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building
from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we
groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when
we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we
groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed
instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by
life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has
given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in
the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are
confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the
Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body
or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so
that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body,
whether good or bad.
Notice that Paul says we would "prefer to be away from the body and at home
with the Lord". That is a state of being that awaits us in the future. I once heard
a speaker say, "Everybody has eternal life, the decision we have to make is where
that eternity will be spent." Friend, would you prefer to be away from the body and
at home with the Lord? We don't know the hour or the day when our eternity will
begin. Are you prepared to spend it in that indescribable place of beauty where the
Lord will reign forever? If so, you can proclaim with confidence
"Don't stop thinkin' about tomorrow, don't stop, it'll soon be here".......
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy
No comments:
Post a Comment