HOME
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. – 2 Corinthians 5:1
In his book Faith and Doubt, John Ortberg compares life to the game of baseball. He says that the object of the game is to get home. How right he is.
Home plate is one spot on the baseball field that is different from all other places. It’s the place where you start the game. You can’t stay there. You have to leave and go to first base, then second base, then third base. You would think that the next one would be called fourth base, but it’s not. It is called home, right back where you started.
It is where you start and when you leave it, you are vulnerable. But, if you can make it back, no one can get you out. You are safe at home. When you are home, you are protected. With God, we have a hope for home. Without Him, we are in a homeless race.
Baseball is about coming home. The whole point of the game is to finish where you begin – home plate – and once you are home you are finally safe. As we round the bases of life, we are vulnerable….. vulnerable to strikes, errors and outs, but when we cross home, we are safe.
God made us in His heavenly home. We began innocent, safe and protected, but we go through life subject to all sorts of dangers. But the difference between life and baseball is that once we have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, no outs or errors can call us out. We are heading for home. Our power and identity is in Jesus, and our journey, our power and our identity is rooted in Him.
It may get rough as we circle the bases of life and even crossing home plate may be traumatic, but we can live with the knowledge that no matter how rough life gets, we are guaranteed to cross home and on the other side find the glorious presence of heaven. We will be freed from all the scars and scares of earthly life, no longer vulnerable and safe at home. Though we run amidst the non-believing establishment who are arrogant, insensitive and self-obsessed, Jesus runs with us as we journey towards the certainty of reaching home.
Unlike baseball, in life there is no designated hitter. You have to go to bat in spite of having to run the bases in a fallen world, but with Jesus, you cannot strike out or be tagged out and all who know Him as savior have the assurance that no matter how tough life gets, we will all end up safe at home.
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SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES
WISDOM OF PASTOR KEN WITTEN:
Problems are uncontrollable, people are unchangeable and pain is inevitable.
The purpose of prayer is not getting “my will” on earth done in heaven, but getting “God’s will” in heaven done on earth.
We don’t live in the “Magic Kingdom,” but in the “Master’s Kingdom.”
When praying, before asking comes submitting. We must accept that God is in charge, recognize His throne and admit our trust. I can’t pray “Thy Kingdom Come” until I pray “My Kingdom Go.” I must surrender to God’s control. Surrender yourself to the Lord and wait patiently for Him. In school it’s always silent when the west is given.
Three reasons why God does not owe me an explanation:
1. He’s God and I am not.
2. I wouldn’t understand it if He did.
3. Explanations never comfort us.
You’ll never stop defeating yourself until you stop deceiving yourself.
CHILDREN ARE QUICK:
TEACHER: Glen, why do you always get so dirty?
GLEN: Well, I’m a lot closer to the ground than you are.
TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father’s cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn’t punish him?
LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand.
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QUOTES YOU CAN USE
Be careful what you wish for…sometimes it comes true.
Everybody is normal until you get to know them. John Ortberg
When they play taps over me on earth, I pray they will be playing revile for me in heaven. John Ortberg
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. – Romans 15:13
Even the smallest task I do today can be part of my service to The Lord. Help me thru the Holy Spirit to see and appreciate even the most obscure work as something to rejoice about God’s calling. Dwight Short
One ounce of sin can harm us more than ten tons of suffering. Tim Keller
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