Corona Devo 531
Just like that.
He was here. Breathing, coaching, running, making a difference to so many and in so many, for so many years and seasons.
Until...just like that, he wasn't.
Why?
We ask through tears of hurt and pain.
Why?
We cry in shock and sorrow?
But we know why, don't we?
Although we spend most of life ignoring it, avoiding it, and even denying its reality, we know why.
Because he was the same as you and me, and every human on earth since God created the first ones.
Because..."just like that" will happen to all of us.
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: (2) a time to be born and a time to die… ~Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
The bigger question to our "why" is also found in the answer to our "why's".
Or should I say the Answer.
Jesus makes the difference. He makes the difference in our understanding of death and what comes after: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? ~John 11:25-26)...
and He makes the difference in our understanding of what it means to live.
When our "just like that" comes, what will be said of us and the "plans" that we made while here?
I love to hear about people who got it. Who had God as their helper, and thus they built into others. They invested in others. They took the time and went the distance. And they made a difference. Remind you of anyone?
If the plans we live are ours, then they die with us. But if our plans are the Lord's, they live in us and live on in others.
When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them.
(5) But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God.
(6) He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He keeps every promise forever.
(8) The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down. ~Psalm 146:4-6, 8
Lord, thank you for those who live beyond themselves and make our lives deeper, richer, and more meaningful. These are gifts that only You can instill and they change lives. When we are changed by You, we can be agents of change for others. Move in us today, Lord. Amen.
We run ourselves ragged "making plans" and setting goals for ourselves, but we were not put here for ourselves. We were created by our Creator to serve Him and to serve others with the gifts He's given us. And when we are doing what we were created to do, we are not run ragged, instead we are fueled with purpose and passion.
Remind you of anyone?
The Bible says that our lives are a mist. Here today and then gone: not when we decide or plan, but "just like that".
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” (14) Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. (15) Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” (16) As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. (17) If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. ~James 4:13-17
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? ~John 11:25-26
We can believe this. And we can believe Him who said it (Jesus).
Jesus knows us. And He loves us. Just as we are and just where we are at. And He seeks a relationship with us before our "just like that" comes.
And it will. That much we can be sure of.
But we can also be sure of our salvation. God made it very simple. It is us who try to complicate it.
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ~Romans 10:9
Just like that.
There doesn't need to be shock and denial about death, because if we know Jesus, the end also means a new Beginning. Just like that.
And Jesus runs alongside of us each day to encourage us, to build us up. To make us better and make us more like Him. It is not complicated. It is just like that.
Remind you of anyone?
(Today's devotional is in honor of Coach Milt Place, long time Cross Country Coach for Medina City Schools. While coaching at Medina, Coach Place won the Ohio Division I State Championship in 2007, qualified for the State meet ten times, won three regional championships, and six District titles. He is a ten-time Medina County Gazette coach of the year and a member of three halls of fame including the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, Ohio Association of Track & Cross Country Coaches and Adams State University. He was also inducted into the Medina City Schools Hall of Fame in 2017. Coach Place also received the very special “Sportsmanship, Ethics, and Integrity Award'' from the OHSAA. He has also left his mark as the founder of the Medina Cross Country Festival in 1992 and has been the Director of the event every year since its inception. (https://www.medinabees.org/Medina).
Congratulations on a race well run, Coach.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ~I Corinthians 9:24-25)
Blessings,
sarah
https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com
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