CHAPLAIN’S CORNER

Starting Line to Checkered Flag… “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7

Home goings and crossovers.

Last year, I had a good friend come down with COVID. He was a couple of years older than me, in great shape and strong in his walk with Jesus. His condition deteriorated quickly. Within 2 weeks of testing positive, he was on a ventilator that he never came off of.

His celebration of life service was amazing! Friends, business associates and his loving family all came to uplift my friend and most of all celebrate his life with Jesus.

Early in his life my friend came to understood that there is a God and it wasn’t him. His desires, his wants, his plans, were all centered around what he wanted in life. He believed that when the time came to die, God had these giant scales to weigh the good things he did versus the bad. He was betting the good side would win.

Then someone presented Jesus to him. My friend understood that compared to some others, he was pretty good guy; but compared to a righteous and Holy God, he was doomed. Romans 6:23 states, “Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.”

That death is not just our physical bodies shutting down. It is an eternal separation from God. I have heard hell described as spending eternity reliving all the chances that someone had to accept Christ but refused to do so.

My friend understood, John 3:16. “ God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and everlasting life.”

My friend believed Jesus was God’s perfect payment for our sins. Romans 10:9 says, 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.”

My friend’s eternal life with Christ started the minute he claimed Him as Savior and Lord.

Your eternal life can start today. Just pray, “ Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I cannot save myself. I believe you are the Son of God, that You lived a sinless life and voluntarily died on a cross to pay my debt. Most of all, three days later You walked out of the grave, overcoming death and hell, promising me the same eternal life with You in Heaven.”

If you prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of God!!! I look forward to meeting with you and celebrating your new life!!

Blessings on and off the road, Jim and Betty Edleston CMA