Week Nine, 2025

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Recently, after a discussion of a friend who had passed away, we talked about the future. We agreed that we are not concerned about dying, as all of us will someday. And we are not concerned with where we will go, as our eternal security is secured in Jesus. What concerns us is what will happen between now and then. What lies ahead as we progress through life?

I thought of a close friend who recently passed. I was honored to speak at his funeral. He was a gifted pastor, writer, radio personality and on his way up in the pastoral world. I had followed his career since he finished seminary and went to his first church assignment.

Then, as a surprise shock to his life, he was diagnosed at age 45 with Parkinson’s disease. He battled it for more than twenty years before his death, as it took him out of the pulpit and off the air as his symptoms grew worse. He was Mike Potts.

While disabled, he wrote Living in the Meanwhile, a book that talks about spiritual relationships and life through those times when we are down. Our meanwhiles may become permanent, become progressively worse with periods of difficulties that may ultimately pass. But they are not fun or as Mike describes them: When life really stinks.

He talks about opportunities he had for ministering to others. He shared the Gospel with one of his doctors and thought for those opportunities, the disease was worth it.

One way God redeems all He allows is by using our pain to draw us closer to the Great Physician. You don’t usually go to your doctor when you’re well, but when you’re sick. John Piper explained, “This is God’s universal purpose for all Christian suffering: more contentment in God and less satisfaction in the world.”

We celebrate the blessings of God at the end of the struggles of life and not as we pass through them. But God wants us at the moments of our struggles. He uses our meanwhiles to keep us on the road to trusting Him more and more. God doesn’t focus on my tomorrows or my yesterdays. He wants my todays as I live in the moment ….. in my meanwhile. He wants us to take our attention off the pain of today and place our attention on Him.

I have had some meanwhiles like my wife’s cancer or facing financial ruin and possible bankruptcy. These times were not fun to experience, but we both came closer to the Lord and grew spiritually in those periods of meanwhiles of stress and uncertainty.

What are your meanwhiles: past, present and future? Whatever your meanwhiles may be: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Sometimes True Stories

Despite the obvious reality of human finitude and mortality, tech millionaire, Bryan Johnson, says he spends upwards of $2 million a year on an anti-aging regimen he believes is enabling his body to “achieve the lowest possible biological age.” Netflix’s new documentary, “Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants To Live Forever,” was released on January 1 and tells his story.

Johnson takes over one hundred supplements and pills a day and engages in daily medical scans, blood draws, a rigorous and restrictive diet, an exercise regimen, and various experimental medical procedures.

I hope he doesn’t die in a car wreck.

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At the first presidential inauguration, George Washington laid his hand on the Bible and took the oath of office as prescribed by the constitution, adding the words “so help me God,” after which he leaned over and reverently kissed the Bible. It is not power or politics that make a great nation. It is not how large of an army a country has, nor is it about how much wealth a nation controls that makes a great nation. We are blessed to live in one of the greatest nations on earth and this nation was founded on Christian values. “In God we trust” was not just a slogan, but was truly a belief held by our founding fathers. A godly nation is a blessed nation. Tony Ferguson.

Quotes You Can Use

Fear can be debilitating. It can tear us down and steal our confidence. It can bring great anxiety that has us feeling as if we are boxed in and the walls are moving closer.

Fear can cause us to freeze up, to not move or do. It can cause us to just lock up, to “choke” ~ being unable to act, unable to help, unable to think clearly.

Fear can cause us to run, to flee, to panic, to take flight. It can cause us to fight, to become angry, to defend.

Fear keeps men from rising up to greatness.

Do not fear opposition—God will keep you in His presence. Edgar Aponte

Fear keeps men cowering in a boat, while the Savior beckons us to step out and walk on water.

Fear causes us to thrash about in the water, even after we’ve taken a few steps on the very same water.

Fear can also be healthy as it causes us to prepare, to strengthen, to fortify.

Fear can cause us to plan and strategize.

Fear can be the catalyst to help us think outside the box, help us become creative, help see things we may never have seen otherwise.

Your heavenly father will never forsake you. Edgar Aponte

When I was young, I was poor. But after years of hard work, I am no longer young.

Leadership is about guiding, not controlling, inspiring not dictating and succeeding together.

Common sense is like deodorant as the people who need it the most never use it.

Never stop doing little things for others. Sometimes those little things occupy the biggest part of their hearts.

I rarely know where I am going in my life’s journey, but I look back and see that God has been leading my every step and I did not even know it. A.W. Tozer

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