D.S. al Coda: Go to the Sign of the Cross, Then proceed to the End

Pondering life.  Do you ever ponder your existence?  Do you ponder the earth's existence in the universe?  Do you ever just sit alone in a room and look around you and wonder how anybody could actually be convinced that we all just sort-of got here because of a huge cosmic accident that is not replicated anywhere in this vast universe?  Most of us don't ever sit still long enough to ponder life because we are so overwhelmed trying to live life.  There are bills to pay, deadlines to meet, children to raise, problems to solve, relationships to repair or let go, meals to cook, things to fix, jobs to find, exams to pass, diseases to fight, and the list goes on and on and on.  And some of us never live beyond the womb while some live over a century and outlive everyone in their immediate family. To say that life is a mystery is the biggest understatement ever!  The Psalmist tried 3,000 years ago to capture this pondering when he wrote Psalm 8:3-9 When I consider your heavens,   

Atonement has been made for you.   In ancient days when the Father established His people from among a fallen and lost humanity, He provided a means whereby the sins of His people could be paid for at the cost of an innocent life.   He demonstrated this at Passover when the blood of a spotless lamb applied to one's doorway marked one's ownership to YHWH.   When the Father made His tabernacle the meeting place where we could draw near to Him, He used two goats to demonstrate that His purpose is that through the cost of an innocent life there can be cleansing for the guilty.   2,000 years ago His only Son, Yeshua Hamachiach, was sent to be the ultimate and final sacrificial Lamb to make atonement for the sins of the world.   He did this out of His love for us and His desire that we should come into a personal relationship with Him.   And today I can tell you that atonement has been made for you.   But my telling you this does not apply that atonement to you for the forgivenes

Today is Memorial Day.   This national holiday began after the Civil War in 1868 and was originally called Decoration Day since it began as a practice of decorating the graves of soldiers in the national cemeteries.    Since it originated in the north by those wanting to memorialize the union soldiers who had died, the southern states began having their own Confederate Decoration Day traditions, but by the 20th century the two competing factions merged into a unified Memorial Day to honor all Americans who had died in military service.    After many years of Memorial Day being observed every year on May 30, no matter what day of the week it fell, in 1968 Congress passed a law making 4 national holidays to always be on a Monday to give us four 3-day weekends.   So, Memorial Day is now always on the last Monday of May, and it marks the beginning of summer in America.     Do you have any idea how many Americans have died in combat over our 241-year history? 1.1 Million.

Psalm 90:12-14   The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,   they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;   planted in the house of the Lord ,   they will flourish in the courts of our God.   They will still bear fruit in old age,   they will stay fresh and green.   Today is Sr. Adult Day at Lexington Baptist Church.     I am so very thankful that each year on the first Sunday of May we, as a church Body, choose this day to recognize the ones who have lived longer, experienced more, and have given the most through the years not only to build up and support the ministries of Lexington Baptist Church, but in a larger context the Kingdom work of our Heavenly Father on earth.   To you I want to say thank you for the leadership you have provided and the Legacy you have already left for me and many others to follow.   I praise and thank the Lord for each one of you.   You are, and have been, a huge part of who I am today,   and I am so very grateful that God has placed us together in s

Leaving a Legacy  So what is a Legacy?  Webster has two basic dictionary definitions:  1. something (such as property or money) that is received from someone who has died  2. something that happened in the past or that comes from someone in the past  Truthfully, I have never thought of a legacy in reference to anything material that would be included in a will.  I think that a legacy is that collective package of all the lofty values, words of wisdom, examples lived, ideals, character traits, and life lessons that are unique to you which can somehow be grasped, taken up, or otherwise processed by another individual or group after you die.  Your legacy is the observable summation of what was good about your life.  So the question might be, “What do people see when they look at your life?”  But I would challenge your thinking to ignore that question because of 1 Samuel 16:7 which says, “The LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looket