More From Later

     “What an elegant house. It looks like something out of a magazine,” Julius said.

            The old woman leaned against the counter. “As a bride the first home I had was a cabin. The first years, we didn’t have running water. Our bathroom was a little room—about forty feet out the kitchen door at the end of a long path.”

“Ha, ha,” Julius laughed. “You mean one of those old outhouses?”

She smiled. “And our children were half raised before we had what many people today would call necessities. In time things became easier. Easier, not better. Water in a faucet doesn’t make life better, just different. As Charles Spurgeon wrote, Happiness does not consist of how much you have, but how much you enjoy….”

The above is an excerpt from my coming book, "If I Should Die". 

As I have confessed I grew up through the 1950's, 60's and became an adult in the 1970's. Just as the 'old woman' in the story said, times have become easier, but not better. As I look around me I wonder why...

• why does everyone just expect married folks to be two income families?
• why do so many people say, 'we just can't live on one salary'.
• why do people believe they have less money than families had during the depression?
• why do we have less time for our friends and families than any generation before us? (so it seems)
• why do we always seem to want to 'get somewhere', but we're never quite sure where that somewhere is?
• why do we never know when 'enough is enough'? 

"The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, Yea, four that say not, Enough: Sheol; and the barren womb; The earth that is not satisfied with water; And the fire that saith not, Enough." (Proverbs 30:15-16 ASV)

Through the years ordinary people in this country have allowed things to happen. With a shrug of the shoulders we ask, 'who am I, and what can I do'. We feel helpless against the Goliaths of this world and rightly so. One of the reasons we rob Peter to pay Paul is who we've chosen to be our gods. Our lives are dominated by the 'horseleaches of this world. 

Many years ago before my children were in school an acquaintance whose son was in high school complained to me about a class that had become known as 'sex ed'. She had gone to view the content of the class to see if it was suitable for her Christian son. She was shocked and dismayed at what she saw. It's just pornography, she told me, but what can I do? They say he must take this class in order to get his diploma and graduate. 

At that moment I realized several things. Even though I appreciate education, there are some things more important to me than graduation and a diploma. And, especially in this country where we value our freedoms and liberties, no government entity should sit on a throne of power and force us to do something which we find abhorrent and repulsive, because some things are right, and some things are wrong, and some things are more important than graduation and a diploma.
What can we do? Here are some suggestions:

• Pray to Jehovah God,  "And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven, and said, I beseech thee... (Nehemiah 1:4-5 ASV)

• Take a long hard look at your life, where you are now, and where you want to go and ask God's blessings on your journey. "O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who delight to fear thy name; and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day..." (Nehemiah 1:11 ASV)

Stop following the horseleaches of this world. Stop letting the horseleaches dictate how you live. Remember:

"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?" (Romans 8:31 ASV)

Hallelujah! What a Savior!