Ecclesiastes 12:10

  Abel has been dead longer than anyone.  His murder at the hands of his own brother makes his the first recorded death in human history. We don’t know how exactly how old he was when he perished but it was relatively minuscule compared to the people of his time. Yet his impact is still being felt today. By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. Hebrews 11:4   The Hebrew writer tells us some things about Abel. He was righteous. God was pleased with him. His faith is an example. And he still speaks to us today.   Pretty good for a guy that has been gone longer than anyone else.   Righteous people leave a mark on this world. The Spirit testifies in Revelation 14:13 that the Godly dead are blessed and their actions still are important. Wickedness might garner fl...

   Uri was a soldier. He was a good soldier. No check that, he was a great soldier. One of the thirty best in the country. He wasn’t that rich or all that famous. He didn’t have a lot but he had one thing; a girl.   His girl was amazing. Absolutely beautiful. One look would have a man wanting to know more about her. She came from an important family. Her granddad was one of the top political advisors in the world. Who knows how Uri came to get a girl like her, but he did. He married her. He loved her, but Uri was a first and foremost a soldier.   Soldiers have a duty that often times calls them away from home. That absence can cause a strain in any marriage. Yet Uri knew his duty. So when the trumpets of war sounded, Uri backed up his gear and headed to the battlefield, leaving his girl home alone.   Uri was a man of duty and honor. God, family, and country. So when He received a special order to give a report to the commander in chief, Uri packe...

   Norway had a plan to keep death from coming to the country.   Now they knew they couldn’t stop all death but in 1349 the death they feared was the Black Death or The Plague. Bubonic plague had ravaged Europe taking over 60% of its population. However, Scandinavia was isolated enough that had been spared and Norway was determined to keep it that way.   Since the disease was transmitted by fleas that live on rats, Norway made every ship that came into its port go thru quarantine. If the ship had signs of rat or flea infestation, it was turned away; otherwise, the crew (if in good health) and supplies were allowed to disembark as planned.  It might have worked except for one ship that refused to stop and be checked.   The reason? They were already dead.   A ship had left England healthy but during the journey, the disease began to take the lives of the crew, but only the crew. The creatures that brought the plague onto the shi...

  I’ve noticed over the last several years that world has started placing a great emphasis when celebrities die.  A famous person passes away and it seems the media and the internet go into mourning.  It is treated as breaking news. Then the tributes, the reflections, the stories about them flood the airwaves for the next few days.  It is treated as a national tragedy.      But why?   Don’t get me wrong, I might have like their music, enjoy the films they stared in or appreciated the talent that they had, but it not as my daily life will be changed now this celeb is gone.  People die every day.  Why is it so important that the person was famous?  We have no real connection to the person, but we mourn as if it were a close personal friend or relative.   I think it has everything to do with the new “god” of our time, fame.  While previous generations might have worshiped money or power, this current one seems ...

  It’s a common practice for criminal that are facing execution to be given a chance to speak their last words. Apparently inmate James Clark didn’t know that. His last statement was, “ Uh, I don't know, Um, I don't know what to say. I don't know. (pauses) I didn't know anybody was there. Howdy .”   It’s sad and pitiful to think that that would be the last thing you say. Most people don’t get a chance to think about their last words. We probably all hope to say something profound with our last breath, but you can only prepare something to say when you see your death coming in advance. What would we say if we did have the chance? A goodbye to love ones? One last piece of advice to those we care about? A prayer to God? A request for forgiveness?   Truth is many will never know what words will be their last, so should we consider every word that we say may just be that.  Not just every word but every action, every thought.  In 1 Peter 4:7  “ The end ...

  On July 25, 1911, Bobby Leach became the first man to go over the Niagara Falls in a barrel. Using an 8-foot-long steel barrel, he floated along the Niagara River. It took 18 minutes for Bobby to reach the Falls and another 22 minutes for someone to recover him once he plummeted to the base, where the barrel got stuck in the rocks. Bobby Leach survived but broke his jaw and both kneecaps. He spent the next six months in the hospital. Bobby eventually left the hospital and toured the world with his barrel. But as irony would have it, when he was six months into that tour he slipped on an orange peel and fractured his leg. His leg became infected had to be amputated. Two months later, Bobby Leach died of complications. He survived the Falls but not a fall.   You never know what will happen. Just because we think we understand how life will go doesn't mean it will turn out that way. Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 “ I again saw under the sun that the...

   Many folks worry about what could be killing them. We might be afraid to fly, worried about toxic waste, or getting killed in while in a bad neighborhood. In order to figure out what we should be afraid of reporter John Stossel with the help of a Harvard professor came up with a chart that tells you the number of day these type of things will take off the average life.    Murder about 93 days off, toxic waste 4 days, plane crashes a mere 1 day.  Smoking is a big threat, 1916 days. But what will take away the most days ? At 3,165 days or 9 years is poverty.     The biggest danger you most likely will face is not having a stable income .   Proverbs 10:4-5 warns us “ Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, But the hand of the diligent makes rich.  He who gathers in summer is a son who acts wisely, But he who sleeps in harvest is a son who acts shamefully ”. Being lazy is the quickest way to end up poor. Laziness put you in more d...