A Promise for the Ages
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Dear Friends,
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I was at the Six Flags amusement park a couple years ago. As the Wicked Cyclone roller coaster came to a stop, the boy in front of me looked at me. He did a double take. Then he said, "I've got to give you props! You don't see many old guys like you on the roller coasters." It was a humbling moment. It made me pause. I could have been insulted. Instead, I laughed. Most of us don't realize how old we are until someone points it out to us. Age is a funny concept.
They tell us that age is just a number. It's true. There is often a disconnect between our physical and mental ages. I first realized this many years ago when I stopped into McDonalds to pick up a breakfast sandwich. There was a group of senior citizens in the restaurant enjoying their coffee. As I waited in line, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. Two of the men were flitting around the tables. It looked like they were playing "Duck, Duck, Goose."
I thought to myself, "How silly they look. They should act their age." The next day I was sharing the story with my wife. She looked at me and said, "Seriously? How many times have I had to tell you to act your age?" I will never forget that moment. You see, it is true. Our mental age is not the same as our physical age. The reason I still ride roller coasters and do silly things in my sixties is because I am a young man trapped in an old body.
Later this month I will be attending my high school class reunion. I can't believe it has been fifty years since we left the hallowed halls of Bacon Academy. It seems like just yesterday that we were the Bicentennial Class of 1976. My fellow graduates were set to take on the world. None of us could begin to imagine where life would take us. Our class song was the theme from Diana Ross' film, Mahogany.
The song asked, "Do you know where you are going to? Do you like the things life is showing you? Do you get what you're hoping for?" Honestly, there is no way that I could have imagined where life was going to take me when I was 18 years old. The one thing I knew back then was that God was always going to be at my side no matter where life was to take me. In the Scriptures God tells us that "He will never leave or forsake us." Time after time, God reassures us that He will be with us.
That's the secret that the apostle Paul shared in Philippians. He says, "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances... whether living in plenty or in want, I can do all this through Him who gives me strength." The last part of that saying has become my life verse. God gives us the power to overcome. He watched over me in my turbulent college years. He gave me the strength to come back from the bad choices I made. I always felt his presence with me.
This last year Lori and I both faced our own health challenges, but God reminded us that we could get through it because He was with us. God never promised life would be easy. We live in a fallen world where bad things happen to good people. He has promised though, that we do not have to go it alone. We can call on Him and He will carry us through. That's the message of that famous poem, "Footprints in the Sand." In tough times, God will carry us.
If I were to share one thing with the kids who are graduating this year, or those celebrating our country’s 250 years, it would be this. You may not know where you are going or which hopes will be fulfilled, but the important thing is to choose who you are going with. As you choose a friend or friends to make the journey with you, make sure that you invite God along for the journey too. He will ensure that you get where you are going. It may not be the place you planned on, but it will be the place where you were supposed to be. That's His promise. It's a promise for the ages.
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​See you in Church.
Pastor Cal