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WELCOME TO THE COMFORT OF REALITY

Inspirational stories written with a Sovereign Grace perspective for folks struggling with difficult issues.

Classics

Several years ago, three American Southern Baptist health care missionaries serving in Yemen’s Jibla Baptist Hospital were brutally murdered by a satanically deluded Muslim. It turned out that one of his victims was a woman doctor who had been providing extraordinary medical care for nearly a year to his wife.

“Authorities are investigating the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of well known humanitarian, 86 year old Patrick Joseph O’Reily whose body was discovered in his home by police early Christmas morning. They were alerted by an observant snow–plow driver who reported O’Reily’s front door was wide open, and the house lit up like a hundred Christmas Trees.”

“It can’t be,” the man shouted. He almost knocked a young mother whose arms were loaded with back to school clothing off of her feet as he quickly made his way to the book rack in the Salvation Army thrift store. Oblivious of the other shoppers, his eyes were like a scud missile locked on target, which in this case was a child’s white Bible with an imitation holly sprig glued onto its cover.

With shoulders hunched over and head bowed down, the young soldier cautiously made his way into the wind and through the deserted streets on that cold, blustery night in February of 1942. He had left the crowded farewell party early. Revile would be at 0300 and he hoped to get in as much shut-eye as possible.

Supported by arm crutches necessitated by a noticeably impaired left leg, the old visiting preacher slowly made his way up the center aisle and into the pulpit of the little country church. He had just been introduced by the churches’ pastor as a man through whom God had been using to bless a lot of His hurting children throughout the years.

You have watched with anger, outrage, and deep sorrow as pain, humiliation and loss of strength has changed the body, mind and spirit of someone you love. You hated these changes as the person grew weaker and weaker and slipped further and further from you. Finally, the ordeal of waiting and watching helplessly is over. The end has come to your loved one. But this is not reality.

No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”1 NIV Jesus who spoke these words almost 2000 years ago also said to a grieving woman named Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die…”2 NIV

Although he only caught a quick glimpse and hadn’t seen her since that beautiful sun drenched autumn afternoon, he couldn’t get the young woman out of his mind. In his entire eighty two years of living on this planet, nobody had even come close to making such a delightful impression on the old widower. And no one, including the man himself, would ever have imagined he would be wishing he could have had a brief conversation with this total stranger.

As soon as Mac and big and little Jen were seated around the large oval table, the pastor opened the Bible study with a word of prayer. Then the group sang a hymn which was followed by a time during which they each offered their thanks and prayer concerns to their heavenly Father.

    • The Unforgettable Halloween
    • There were no parking places in front of the house of the needy family that the man was going to deliver a bag of food to. He had been volunteering to make those deliveries toward the end of each month for the church he went to. Not because he cared for needy people but he wanted to make himself look good in the eyes of people and help his business. On that particular night the closest he was able to get to the house just happened to be right in front of the entrance to the town cemetery. Instead of walking all around the block he decided to take a short cut through the cemetery.

Charlie Series

In what appeared to be a split second, the patient arrived at a level of consciousness he had never before known. This was a welcome relief from his previous state in which he experienced an increased inability to think clearly, concentrate, and a multitude of other symptoms of his disease. It was somewhat like a radio after being fine-tuned; his clarity of thought was now crystal clear.

The little cluster of jubilant spirits zoomed out of the dreary nursing home and into the midnight sky with a velocity vastly exceeding that of a newly launched spaceship. On and on they flew as they silently made their way further and further from Planet Earth and well beyond the zillions of humongous super clusters, each of which contain billions of individual galaxies.

Charlie: “You know something pal? As good as I feel right now there’s a mega damper on my happiness.”

Angel: “Why is that Charlie?”

Charlie: “Every time I think of what Martha and the rest of them are going through because of my Alzheimer’s, I can’t help feeling bad for them.”

Imagine the following scenario. Five people are in an office seated around a well polished mahogany conference table. Other than having a very close relationship with each other and the deceased, they had no idea why they had been invited. All eyes were focused on the well dressed distinguished looking elderly gentlemen when he entered the room and sat down at the head of the table.

Heaven Series

The long seemingly never-ending dreary nights were always the worse. The lights were turned down low. Visiting hours ended and the anxious visitors, some of whom were crying hysterically, make their way towards a designated waiting room, where they would either spend the night, or head toward a hospital exit and go home. Loneliness, discouragement, and fear often gripped the patient.

Continuing where my Valentine’s Day story of two lovers ended last week, we read that: “with their hands clasped tightly, Frank and Jennifer followed Frank’s Guardian Angel. That angel was just behind a heavenly host of other joyous angels, the ones who had been assigned by God to minister to and protect Frank while he lived in our sin-infested world.

Continuing today, we find Jesus grinning from ear to ear and saying, “Take him out and introduce him to his family and friends who arrived in Heaven before he did, Jennifer. They’re gathered just outside the door of The Throne Room.

And so, Matt put the ridiculous thought about hearing a man weeping out of his mind. As he looked down the Throne Room steps, He was astonished. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Gathered below was a jubilant crowd of total strangers. Men and women, girls and boys, and people of all ages and shapes and sizes were jumping up and down shouting, “Welcome home, Welcome home!”

Today’s story begins with Jen showing Matt around Heaven. To look at them you would get the impression that they were the happiest couple living there. Actually, they may very well have been.

It was a sight to behold. The miniature French Poodle, Buttsy, and Buckwheat the Cocker spaniel, and Walter the squirrel and the dog Honey, together with Chubbs the guinea pig and her family of three, and Kitty the cat led the way.

“Well, Matt. Those scriptures have answered each of your questions. However, I know that you still aren’t satisfied. That’s the reason I’m going to ask you one question that will answer each one of yours. Are you ready?”

Picking up where we left off last week we learn that, upon arriving at St. Patrick’s Place, Matt and Jen were pleasantly surprised when they saw Jesus outside on the patio. He was seated at a triangular table amongst the other joyous diner’s.

I want to begin by asking you to please accept my sincere apology if I misled you in last’s week’s sermon when I stated that,

“the Spirit of God lives [in] all human beings.”

It was 2am on a bitterly cold December morning. A beautiful starlit sky illuminates a foot of fresh fallen snow, which, with the absence of the slightest breeze lay exactly where it had tumbled down from the heavens on the old country church. With the exception of an occasional snowplow the streets are deserted.

As Matt was walking up the steps leading to the front door of the house where his Christian great-granddaughter lived with her unsaved husband he spotted the men coming towards him. They were the ones who were in the restaurant the previous morning where Matt and a few other missionaries to the Land of the Living Dead were having breakfast.

The man’s high continued uninterrupted into the fourth day. It was impossible for him to adequately describe what he had been experiencing. Words like serenity and euphoria were grossly inadequate.

My Psalm Sunday story ended with Matt saying, “I plan on attending (the Easter Sunday service) also folks. I just got word (from Moe and Joe) that the pastor is going to tell a story about three little words. I wonder what they are.”

“Actually, I could care less, Matt. Seeing that Jesus is in the miracle business I just want to hear Him tell me that, “I love you, Tom.”

Harvestime

Welcome to Harvestime Campus Fellowship folks. It’s nice to see you again. What’s on your mind today? Billy started the ball rolling by handing everyone a printed copy of an email that was in his inbox a few days previously. He said, “I received this gem a few days ago.

After welcoming the college students to the Harvestime Campus Fellowship and offering a word of prayer, the pastor said,

“I’m going to attempt to continue to correct a fellow Christian’s misunderstanding concerning certain portions of the Doctrine of Election. I’ll be quoting excerpts from three outstanding books that were authored by the highly acclaimed bible scholars R. Kent Hughes and Larry Richards and William Barclay.

“In my opinion, chapter nine of Paul’s letter to the first century believers that were living in Rome is perhaps the most shocking chapter in the Bible. The truths contained in it are despised by every non-Christian who is aware of them. It’s a sad fact, but all too many Christians do not accept the entire Bible as being the divinely inspired Word of God. These folks pick and choose what they will and won’t believe-and they don’t believe what’s in chapter nine.”


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