There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. – Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
I listened intently as he talked about his family’s life. He was a gifted musician and came from a family of the same. His father wanted him to be a great musician and his instruction started early in his life. His father would drive him in the car and turn on symphony music and ask, “son what music is this and who wrote it.”
Over the years, the young boy grew up to become a gifted celloist and the father grew in years. The boy’s mother developed a brain tumor. He learned about his mother as he watched his dad care for her until death. Then dad found a new wife, only to nurse and care for her through cancer and death. Then he found a third wife, but now he has Alzheimer’s and has reverted to childhood. The son now drives him in the car, turns on symphony music and asks, “dad, what music is this and who wrote it.”
In his narration, the son said, “now the father has become the child and the child has become the father.” As I listened, I could not hold back the tears.
Life is that way. There is a time for everything in life. God created us and some day He will take us away.
Humans have mastered many things in this world, but some elements of our existence are beyond our control. We cannot conquer time. God is the one who appoints each moment.
Our lives contain a mixture of joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, harmony and struggle, and life and death. Each season has its appropriate time in the cycle of life. Nothing stays the same, and we, as God’s children, must learn to accept and adjust to the ebb and flow of God’s design. Some seasons are difficult, and we may not understand what God is doing. In those times, we must humbly submit to the Lord’s plans and trust that He is working out His good purposes.
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SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES
They started in colleges, but trans closets—rooms stocked with transgender clothes and accessories for students to change into after arriving to school and back out of before going home—are being discovered in public schools with some indication they are being kept a secret from parents. A California teacher said that the trans closet he started at the high school where he works is meant to be kept from parents. “The goal of the transition closet is for our students to wear the clothes that their parents approve of, come to school and then swap out into the clothes that fit who they truly are,” the teacher said.
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Florida voting drop boxes are now called secure ballot intake stations.
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Declining membership closes one of Gulfport’s oldest churches after 75 years:
Half a century ago, Yvonne Johnson came to Pinellas County to build a home with her husband. She ended up helping build a church. “This became my home,” the 93-year-old said at Gulfport Presbyterian Church on Sunday.
One of the longest running religious institutions in the city, Gulfport Presbyterian held its last service that morning. Its membership had dwindled to just 19 at the time of the closure. Most members were older adults.
The church joins other places of worship across the U.S. forced to shutter as attendance shrinks and more young people identify as spiritual but not religious.
Is this a sign of the times?
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John Adams, our second president, wrote a letter in 1798 to the officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts.
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
It is Adams’ reasoning behind this assertion, however, that French wants us to consider: “We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition, Revenge, or Gallantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a net.”
This is why the US Constitution is adequate only for a “moral and religious people” and cannot govern any other.
The Constitution and the American legal system built upon it can help to restrict and punish immorality, but they cannot prevent it. If someone wants to slander you or steal from you, they can likely do so. At best, our system will help you seek redress and punish them for their crimes, but it cannot change the character that enabled such immorality.
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QUOTES YOU CAN USE
Your performance has nothing to do with your value. Coach Tom Allen
Little progress can be made by merely attempting to repress what is evil. Our great hope lies in developing what is good. Calvin Coolidge
Elon Musk is not “the light of the world.” That job has already been taken. The morality our democracy needs depends on Christians following Christ so passionately and obediently that others want to follow Christ. Such a moral transformation cannot be catalyzed by secular leaders, no matter how wealthy and powerful they are, or by secular institutions, no matter how pervasive and influential they might be.
Jim Denison
An uncluttered financial life is one with little to no debt. The Minimalist
There is no greater harm than time wasted. Michelangelo
Perhaps our race relations could be improved if we could be more like Jesus who looks at our hearts to check out our progress as pilgrims in this weary land. Transplants support this as a heart from a donor of different outward color works just fine inside the body! Dwight Short
Every day we meet an average of seven people who are not saved. Cindy Heiberg
Christians should be focused and centered on Jesus. We can do no better. Max Wilkins
People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents. Andrew Carnegie
Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility. Peter Drucker
The sum of wisdom is that time is never lost that is devoted to work. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Never discourage anyone…who continually makes progress, no matter how slow. Plato
I am not saying that what we are seeing today is proof positive that Jesus is coming tomorrow. What I am saying is, it could be. Tony Evans
QUOTES YOU CAN USE