appointment with death . . .

i was driving through the city today

and went by the intersection of riverside and baseline roads.

planted into the earth at that intersection, i saw a wooden cross

adorned with flowered wreaths.

whose life did that cross represent? whose place did it mark?

it clearly enshrined the place where someone died . . . someone who was loved.

it marked the place on earth where someone's days on earth were left behind.

it marked the place where, with one last breath, a soul entered into eternity.

i'm sure they had no idea, when they got out of bed that morning that "today" would be their last day on earth.

it just was.

it was the day of their appointment with death.

just as God's word says . . . every human being has an appointed day to die.

(hebrews 9:27)

there is no "fairness" in death. we cannot package it up and define it.

life truly is a vapour . . . that appears for awhile and then vanishes away.

(james 4:14)

i want to live each day saying, "if the Lord wills, i shall live and do this or that."

(james 4:15)

the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.

blessed be His name forever . . . for eternity.

this is a photo that i took last fall

when i was exploring a graveyard in ottawa.

i like graveyards.

i like walking through them reading the tombstones

and imagining the lives that they mark.

graveyards should make people think.

graveyards bring us face to face with eternity.

i think that anything that makes us think eternally

is good.

after all . . .

eternity is what is really important.

matthew 2:12

". . . and they departed for their own country by another way."

the magi who followed the star to bethlehem

found Jesus.

there in a lowly stable, they knelt before the king of all kings

and worshiped Him.

when they left His presence,

they could not go back the same way they came.

they went another way . . . a new way.

it is the same for anyone who encounters Jesus today.

when we "see" Him . . .

when we meet Him and know Him

we can never go back from where we came.

everything is new.

we are born again

and we go a new way.

gold, frankincense and myrrh

i was wondering today . . .

could the ages of the earth be defined by the gifts of the magi?

by gold, frankincense and myrrh?

i think that the gold would represent the time that Jesus walked on earth

among men . . . in the form of a man.

God among men!

it was time when people could see Him, audibly hear Him

and touch Him!

frankincense . . . that would represent the time after

Jesus' death on the cross, until today.

it is the age we live in now.

it is the time when the fragrance of Jesus

makes His existence plain to all who have the heart to see.

it is the fragrance of God's word and the Holy Spirit that

gives us true life.

and myrrh.

perhaps this is the age that is still to come

when the true church, that has worshiped God in spirit and in truth, has been raptured

and when the mighty God pours out His wrath upon the earth and on mankind.

myrrh . . . could it represent the burial spice that will prepare a world saturated with sin for it's fiery death, as predicted in scripture?

gold, frankincense and myrrh . . .

then and now.

love . . . in action

joseph was divinely chosen by God . . . as much as mary, Jesus' mother, was.

God saw something different in the heart of this man.

joseph truly was righteous and devout - but not religious in heart.

when he found out that mary was with child, he had every religious and moral right, under the law, to have her stoned - put to death.

but joseph's heart was not driven by the law, but by love.

so he sought to put her away privately, so she would not suffer the consequences that the law demanded.

love enthroned joseph's heart.

Lord, may that same kind of love capture me!

"above all else," You said, "put on love."

Lord, bridle my tongue, harness my thoughts, and submit my carnal nature to Yours.

may Your love reign in my heart.

only You can make this happen. it is not within my power.

make me to walk in love.

please . . . hear my prayer, o Lord.

prayer . . .

i do not serve God or pray, just so that i can see "results."

i do not serve God with conditions. God is not a "means to an end."

He is alpha and omega . . . He is my all in all.

i follow Him unconditionally, purposefully and intentionally

with commitment and determination . . . as He gives me strength.

i do this because HE IS . . . and for no other reason.

Jesus is above all that i love and all that i hold dear.

my prayer is, and always will be, to be found faithful.

may i have the faith of abraham, who honoured God even above the love he had for his child.

i want to possess the same kind of faith job had - whose determination and commitment enabled him to see God in all circumstances . . . and to not only see God, but to trust His will for his life.

may i always trust and praise You in all circumstances.

may i seek, pray for, and sincerely accept Your will in my life . . . for all of my days.

my desire . . .

speak of the Lord . . .

speak to the Lord . . .

day by day . . . moment by moment.

see Jesus in everything.

make Him part of every thought, every deed, every purpose.

think of Him when i open my eyes in the morning.

meditate on His word.

ask for His will every day.

think of Him when i close my eyes at night.

meditate on His word.

thank Him.

worship Him.

that is my desire.