What if we had more time in a day to git ‘er done, would we?
What if we had one more dime in the parking meter, would we have gotten that parking ticket?
What if we had one more mime on the street corner in July, would we welcome the sound of jackhammers?
What if?

What if we had filled up the tank on the way to work, right before Sheik Abdul sneezed and gas shot up 45 cents a gallon?
What if we had just been cussed out by a guy named Frank, but still gave the cashier a credit card-sized tract which looked like a “Facebook” logo with a Friend Request that reminded her “What a Friend we have in Jesus”?
What if we had just gotten that one last prayer in for uncle Joe, who was in Hospice Care but thinks he was good enough to get into Heaven because he never killed anyone….well except for that bridge he blew up in Viet Nam…and the er…secret mission to Cambodia…???!!!
What if?

You get the point!
Life is sometimes a series of missed opportunities. It happens to everyone at the most crucial moment. How many times have we said “aw man…I should have said…..” or “why didn’t I mention……” or “if I get the chance to tell….I will….” ad nauseum!

2011, THE YEAR THAT’S NO MORE:
This past year was no different. Looking back on what ain’t no more, we see:
– Blizzard on Groundhog Day (February 2, 2011) which shut down the Midwest and took the life of a 55 year old friend of mine, who went shovelling two feet of snow with a bad heart.
– Tidal Wave shown live on worldwide TV in March….as many of us watched in horror as thousands died lost forever to eternity in a split second, because they did not know the One True God.
– A monster mile-wide tornado took out Tuscaloosa, Alabama  in April which they still have not recovered from.
– A similar set of violent tornadoes almost completely destroyed Joplin, Mo, about 6 hours from where we live. But unlike the other natural disasters, we were able to mobilize truckloads of food, water, clothing and money to help love on these dear people, who lost everything except their Hope!
– The St. Louis Cardinals, hot on the heels of one of the biggest Christian Days at the Ball Park in August, win the 2011 Baseball World Series in some of the best baseball ever played.
– Yet we had spectacles of spoiled rich kids armed with Apple iPads, iPhones and more electronics you can shake a stick at, “OCCUPYING” every major city in America, causing havoc, lost of income and disease by living in 1960’s styled communes…complete with illicit sex and violence!

But then we had the Tim Tebow phenomenon!

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RELYING ON GOD IN ANXIOUS TIMES

“Certainty is the mother of quiet and repose, and uncertainty the cause of variance and contentions”. This is a quote from the 16th century English businessman Edward Coke.
Let’s look at some definitions:
Certain: free from doubt; destined to happen; absolutely positive; inevitable.
Uncertain: unknown; not confident of; doubtful; indefinite
Variance: a state of difference or disagreement
Contentions: strife; struggling; disharmony; disagreements; disputes

DICHOTOMY

There is a dichotomy between the two views. We have certainty versus the banging cymbals of uncertainty, variance and contentions….and this describes our world today!

We look around and see monster mile-wide long tornadoes completely wiping out entire city blocks of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

We see 5.2 Earthquakes in Oklahoma, with the New Madrid and San Andreas Faults (Midwest and California respectively) ready to go at any time. These faults could cause more loss to people and property than any earthquake around the world so far!

We see untold heavy rains threaten livestock and lives in Cape Girardeau, Missouri as families and friends are scared for their farms.

We see floods gushing through previously untouchable homes and towns, leaving debris in its wake…and more.

Many, including some pretty level-headed people who are somewhat grounded in Biblical truth, scratch their heads and wonder about the Creator allowing this to happen. Even the toughest believers in God gulp and gasp at that terrible wind blowing apart parts of Southern Alabama at NASCAR speed!

We can go on and on with the examples here, but the only way any of these tragedies make any sense is to comprehend some of the Ways of God and why Creation is in an uproar.

Uncertain times demand a comforting word from the Promises of the Creator – the God of the Universe!

YOUR WAYS

When we have a national or large scale tragedy….

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