August 6 2018 – Click here to listen
One of my sons and his family came for a visit this past weekend. My son and I went fishing on Friday and hooked up a double header of sailfish. Our father/son fishing team triumphed and we landed both fish and successfully released them in about an hour. We also landed several other species and had quite the good day. While we fished, my daughter-in-law, wife, and beautiful twin granddaughters went to the beach and later ended up in the swimming pool before we ate a tremendous meal. Saturday the entire family spent time together as we toured the area and ended up at the beach. The pleasant day didn’t end there, to my absolute delight my good friend T.K. Wetherell texted to report that he’d miraculously survived his operation to remove a tumor on his spine and then he asked if I had caught a fish for him Friday morning. (He had asked that I do that and dedicate it to him.) I sent photos and told him we did indeed catch fish and dedicated ALL of them to him. Unfortunately, my son and his family had to get back to Atlanta early Sunday morning, so we dropped them off at the airport. Afterwards we went to church and heard a tremendous sermon delivered by a good friend of mine Tom Mullins.
It was a weekend to remember and I was still smiling when I came downstairs this morning. After briefly scanning the news my smile was gone. There was a slaughter of people in Chicago with 40 shot and seven murdered, antifa created more bloody havoc in Portland, Trump haters raged until they foamed at the mouth, Canadians decided to try and boycott USA products, trauma surgeons warned that Britain’s knife crime “epidemic” is straining their blood supply as the number of incidents reached a record high of 40,000 for the year, blah blah blah.
I wonder if these people have ever had a weekend like I just enjoyed; spending time with family in the great outdoors and around the dinner table and going to a good church to worship and celebrate our Creator and life. Have you ever wondered what the lure of Satan is for these folks? It’s not about smiles, family, good times, peace, love, or joy. It is about restless misery, lies, perversion, violence, hate, and destruction.
The Psalmist asks in the Bible, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?”
It continues, “The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together, against the LORD and against His Anointed One . . .
They hate Jesus and for that for which He stands. I cannot come up with a logical answer as to why???
Satan is a liar and a deceiver. I suppose that he has convinced a huge number of the peoples of the earth that this temporal world and all the material things in it are better than a relationship with the God of love, peace, and joy. Those who find God will enjoy the best things in all of creation forever; those who do not, will taste even more misery forever. Pray for them, witness to them . . . Time runs out before you know it . . . Enjoy your life to the hilt with faith, family, and freedom . . .
And now for the rest of the Psalmist’s story for those who oppose our Lord:
“Let us break Their chains and cast away Their cords.” The One enthroned in the heavens laughs; the Lord taunts them. Then He rebukes them in His anger, and terrifies them in His fury . . .