Silly people holding on to this world - yes, your daddy's one of them sometimes

I posted about you in a response on Youtube today. Pastor J.D. Farag, in one of his prophecy updates, said Elijah was possibly offered the chance to really keep doing a great work in Israel or go up in this chariot of fire to Heaven. And I thought othought of how I always sense you saying how silly your Daddy is for choosing this world over what you're in now.

I don't need to mention more about him, I would imagine you've met his daughter already. Although, how does that work? With all those people up there, maybe you don't meet everyone right away. Or maybe "meet" doesn't apply if you automatically know people, or maybe you're so busy playing and conversing aboutg all the wonderful thigns it's like a coupe small children who can play for hours and not ask each other's names. Because to them, it's just not important. The joy of the moment is.

I know what you're going to say. "It's a surprise, Daddy!" I can't wait for that big surprise. And yet, after a while I found myself following the weird baseball season of 60 gams this year, hoping they'd manage to get it all in. I've found myself wanting to see just how bad the NFC East can get or some of the other fun stuff about sports, though I am cutting back on that pretty much. I haven't enjoyed the NFL much ever since Rick got sick and later died of cancer, which I mentioned in an earlier post. So, my love for sports is less. I even got to the point where I didn't midn if we got raptured before the Cubs finally won a World Series.:-) (And, of course they did it against my Indians.)

We all have things we cling to that God tries to get us to loosen our grip on. NOt that He can't rapture someone who is holding on to something, but it'll be a lot tougher for that individual. Just like when Uncle Tom passed, he naturally started letting go of a lot of things, and a month before he died, I told him he was going to get to see you and have an ice cream social upon entering Heaven, to which he replied "I know." (That was about the last thing he ate bits of, often saying "Kids all scream for ice cream.") It was so cool how a couple nights before he died, instead of his by then really weak voice my mom's cousin heard him in his normal voice, though she could only make out the name "Bill" - his oder brother - and "I'm good" like someone had asked if he needed more ice cream. :-) Okay, I know that probably wasn't it but who knows. (Well, you probably do, you were probably there, I asked Jesus to let you. :-) But I also know you'll just tell me you can't say because it's a surprise.

Sorry, I'm getting off topic here. I guess that's good in a way, I do have most of my sights set on Heaven. It's just so hard now with the pandemic because we can't just go door to door witnessing, though I do hand out tracts at times, and people take them. Our senior pastor at my church was in the hospital with covid andpneumonia in fact, and he's only in his early 50s. His wife and a couple other staff members had it, too.

But, the great thing is, we can still pray. And, people are still trusting Jesus to save them. I may get a little silly here because I imagine what it's like to be there in Heaven. But, the good thing is, it inspires us to want to share the Gospel with others when we have our eyes set on Jesus.

It's so simple for someone to get to Heaven, and yet people make it so complex. It's as easy as ABC -

Admit you're a sinner, that you fall short of God's standard of perfection, and don't deserve to go to His perfect Heaven.

Believe Jesus Christ, God in flesh, died to take the punishment for your sins and rose from the dead, and that what He did was all that was needed to get you to Heaven.

Call on Jesus to save you from your sins, Confess that you are a sinner in need of a Saviour and Choose to let Jesus forgive you and come to live in you and make you new inside.

A person cando that right now, praying something simple like this but believing with their whole heart as they pray. "Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. I don't deserve your perfect Heaven, but I know you died for my sins and rose from the dead. YOu took the punishment I deserved so I could be saved from my sins. I call on you to save me and forgive me of all my sins, come live in me and make me new inside. I believe you have saved me not by any work I have done but through your shed blood ont he cross. I confess you as my Saviour today, and believe you have written me in your Book of LIfe. In Jesus' name, Amen."

I hope many will read this, and they will copy it for many others. I pray even after the rapture it'll be available. Because there will be so many missing loved ones.

I pray we will see justice done on this earth still, becasue I want to see God glorified. But, at the same time, I know that He knows what will bring HIm glory. And, He may be ready to judge this whole world. I don't know.

I just know I look forward to seeing you and celebrating all that God has done. Becasue His perfect Heaven is so much greater than we can imagine here.

Till we meet.

Love, Daddy

Another blissful dream, and praying for Bob

Dear Sweetheart,

Last night was another of those which reminds me how wonderful it'll be - and how much joy you're having while we struggle down here.

I dreamed I was jogging laps in my backyard - it had elements of mine and my grandparents', not uncommon in dreams. One of those like mine was how bumpy, with many little hills and things, it had. And, you were peacefully swinging on a swingset there; I don't know it got there but that's how things appear in dreams. (It looked different than the one in my grandparents' yard.)

You looked a bit different from that other dream, but that's understandable - whenever I wonder anything about you I always imagine you saying, "It's a surprise, Daddy." And, you made a comment about how you know we can't pet animals because of the virus- and you said animals like lions and bears and such. Of course, there are other reasons we can't pet wild animals like lions, too, right now :-). But,it was just like a normal random comment from a kid. And, I remarked about how when we get to Heaven we can pet all the animals we want.

I may have mentioned Bob before. He is not the kind to want to walk up to a lion and pet it. Okay, I don't know many who would, but the important thing is, he does love the city he lives in and the night life and the fancy architecture and all the fun stuff that's closed down because of the virus. It's doubly hard on him, I imagine, becasue he turns 50 today.He needs prayer. He may have faced some serious trauma. I know he was robbed at gunpoint around 30 years ago. There may have been bullying in college - this stuff didn't appear before - or something I was unaware of. And, while my mom said to ignore the robbery so it didn't bring back bad memories, he may have been hurting so badly. I did refuse to talk about sports and other thigns around him becasue I knew he was traumatized by them. (He wasn't bothered by them in school, but after a couple years of college, he actually ducked down in the car when my parents and I drove past a stadium where I went to college, which was a different one. That's not the action of someone who doesn't like sports - it's possible some bullies jumped him behind one.)

 I hope he isn't still feeling the effects of PTSD or whatever it was, times like this can cause someone to have flashbacks if they're not careful. Or even if they are.

I'm sure Bob's frustrated - I won't get into it all here, but he couldn't stop himself from being vulgar after that even when I implied in a way school Bob would understand that I felt unsafe and encouraged him with now polite everyone else was there. He's the only person who ever refused to understand and help me. It didn't happen often, and I'm sure he's better now, but this virus is causing so many people problems. And, for someone who never liked the outdoors like him, there are few ways to escape all the problems.

God can give him that peace, though. It may not be as blissful as it seemed to be for you in that dream, and as wonderful as Heaven is for you. That's why it's Heaven - it's so much better than here because there can be no sin, no pain, no suffering. NOthing bad can happen to us there. And, God will wipe away every tear.

But, a relationship with Jesus Christ can give us peace that passes understanding when we trust in Him to help us. It can free us from worries about things. God will keep Him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him.(Is. 26:3) He is called Prince of Peace, in fact, as though Peace were a place and He the ruler of it. When we flee HIm into the darkness, we might get a false peace through some substance or our own efforts, but that will always be a failure. Only Jesus can give it to us so it lasts, so we know no matter what happens, we will be safe in Heaven if not here. And, He will get us through the hard times here, too.

I can imagine for someone who prefers the kind of fun Bob does, this is so painful. He is such a wonderful architect, yet to my knowledge he doesn't know the one who made him so fabulously, who created this amazing world. Yes, there is sin in it - there is disease and such, too. But, that is a result of man contaminating the world through evil choices. God wants us to choose to follow HIm, He doesn't want us to be mindless robots.

So, someone like Bob, whether or not he has some kind of peace now, is someone I pray for. It hurts that he doesn't know that peace that passes understanding, and I so want him to know Jesus personally.

We are all sinners; I am, too. But, there are saved sinners and lost sinners. People need to have that peace in the midst of the terrible fear this Covid19 thing has caused.

All it takes is that single bit of faith, praying something like this.
"Lord Jesus, I choose to believe in you today. I don't understand all that's going on, but I know I'm a sinner in need of a Saviour. I haven't always done what's right, and my sin means I'm not perfect which means I can't get to Heaven on my own. But, I choose today to believe you are God in flesh, Jesus. I believe you died to take the punishment for my sin and rose from the dead. That if I were the only person ever you still would have died in my place for my sins and risen again. Lord Jesus, today I trust you as my Saviour. I turn away from my sins and I invite you into my heart to make me new inside. I ask you to cleanse me and come live in me through your Holy Spirit, and guide me through this difficult life. I believe you have saved me not by what I've done or who I am, but who you are. In Jesus' name, Amen."

That's all he'd have to do. That's all anyone has to do. This troubled time is what is called a "birth pang" by Bible teachers - because Jesus says as His coming nears the signs would be more and more intense and closer and closer together - we must share that salvation with others, so they can escape the horrible trauma which will come.

Go here for what to do if you're left behind when He comes - and share it with everyone even now.

Each of us is only a single, sincere prayer of repentance away from eternal life. The alternative is eternal separation from God's perfect love and goodness in Hell. Hell was only meant for the devil and his angels. And, God doesn't send anyone there; people go there when they reject His forgiveness and salvation.

You can go here to ask questions after clicking on a decision and leaving on inthe comment/response field, there are plenty of of skilled people to answer hard questions about these thigns.

In this troubled time, we don't know when Jesus will return. But, we do know that God lovingly gave us gifts of freedom and a great economy for many people, and that didn't wake people up. Now, He's allowing this to happen to wake people up. I just hope someone will come to know Him through this.

Because I want them - especially Bob - to know the wonderful peace I'll feel someday in Heaven. And, peace I feel now, despite struggles and intrusive thoughts that still occasionally creep in which  i neec Jesus to fight, and so on. God loves each one of us, and wants to help us through this difficult time. So we can have the best time someday in that perfect place where there can be no pain, no suffering, no tears, no sin.

Where you are celebrating, playing and enjoying things blissfully, and waiting for your silly Daddy to give you a big hug and then go pet some lions and things.

Till that special time when we meet on that great celestial shore.

Love,
Daddy

Another reason to be thankful you're safe with Jesus

Sweetheart,

It's funny to think of those little times I've written how I miss you, and stuff we could have done. i always knew, and even mentioned in my posts, that I knew there was stuff I'm glad you don't have to face. And, things that I'd have struggled with seeing you have to go through. In some ways, there were a few times those thoughts helped me cope when I first prayed so hard for a child and then found myself praying like Hannah did for Samuel, dedicating him to God.

And, that was some of why I hadn't really posted much after those first months. Because I knew ou were in a better place.

Now, as we have a virus running rampant in this world, one which is worse than any flu strain since the Spanish Flu, and which has a major problem in that people don't know they have it for days after they catch it. People aren't going out anymore, and I'm so glad you aren't suffering from boredom. Even if it's likely you'd have had only very mild symptoms if you had caught it.

Some of these thoughts might well be used in another blog I write, and i hope they help to encourage people.

We haven't always been thankful for things. I know I've always been, and wouyld have taught you to be, but too many people don't appreciate the joys of the little things in life. A handshake, for instance, used to be the symbol of an ironclad promise. I still recall when my great uncle declared, as I was talking with him at 95, weeks before his death, that he knew for sure that he'd trusted Jesus Christ as his Saviour. And, I noted at the funeral that it was with the same certainty and determination as that very firm handshake he always had; he was a real estate developer in this area. A person's word has little meaning at times, let alone a handshake.

I don't know if that will change, but it's just one of those things too few people notice. We have such great freedom in our country, and sometimes we need reminders of just how good we have it. I don't know why it's been easier for me to appreciae all these little things. Maybe it's my family's influence, but I think a lot of it is my being legally blind and having other handicaps, too.

Either way, there's a huge need for people to distancer themselves from each other for a while, and this is hopefully forcing others to start communicating with their families again. A lot of times, you hear about people here who only communicate through their cell phones. Will people start to actually talk with each other a lot more after this is over? I don't know.

All I know is that I'd have made sure we had plenty of fun times together and engaged in meaningful conversation. You might have been mroe of a leader just because of that - but who knows, you might have been shier and needed that just to help you to come out of your shell.

I only know that - as much fun as we'd have had with thingslike reading and creating our owns tories and such - it would have been boring for you right now, whatever age you would have been. And, I wouldn't want to see you deprived of all the opportunitie. (I mean, sure, you'd be able to play outside, but it'd still be boring with no friends coming over, and it's pretty wet out right now, anyway. :-) )

But, I guess I'm just ahead of the curve on this, too. Because, I said before that, while it took me longer than it did for other things, I was still grateful that you didn't have to put up with some things. So, I didn't need this wakeup call that much, not like most of the world. But, that's the problem. Most of the world isn't like our family. There's a lot of people who don't have the loving, compassionate, caring, thoughtful people all throughout their families like we do.

You could have been a leader and helped to encourage those who suffer. But, instead, you're up therewaching, and wondering with your whole mind on the eternal, not jsut a small part like me: When will they learn?

I don't know. But I know God loves them just like He loves me. He loves every one of us individually. He loved us so much, He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

That life begins for the believer the minute they trust Jesus to save them. And, it's as easy as ABC - eEach person has to do this on their own. I had to do this, too. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.(Heb. 11:6) And I share this so those reading can know that great salvation, peace, and comfort I've found. They can also go to www.godlife.com to learn more.

ADMIT you're a sinner, and fall short of God's perfect glory. Since you're not perfect you can't save yourself from your own sin

We couldn't, either. But, God's Word says you must simply...

BELIEVE with your heart that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. He never sinned, yet He took our punishment for sin, when He died on the cross. Three days later, He rose from the dead.

If you've done A and B, all you need to do in that prayer is...

CHOOSE to CALL on Jesus by faith in Him alone to forgive you of all your sins. He will cleanse you from those sins, and make you new on the inside.

(John 10:10).

I hope many go to Godlife.com and even call on Jesus right now. This world needs Him desperately.

Till we meet in Heaven and celebrate what God has done, with HIm, together, forever...

Love,
Daddy