Echoes of Grace: 2014

I’ve gotten burned by receiving a fake bill before. It had the wrong kind of paper — the stiff, smooth kind you buy at the office supply store — not the rough flexible stuff with the gritty, raised texture of ink laid down by a specialty intaglio press. But I wasn’t paying attention when I received it mixed in with other bills. When I went to pull the bill out of my wallet later on, I got that sick feeling — I’d been fooled.

Suppose you received a fake $100 bill. Would that make you believe that $100 bills didn’t exist? Or would it make you double down on learning the characteristics of real bills to make sure that you never accepted anything but genuine currency? There are more than fifteen special security features that have been introduced in the last seventeen years to try to stay a few steps ahead of counterfeiters. I’ll give you a head start on spotting the real bill with five of the key features of genuine $100 bills.

Silk fibers: Tiny red and blue silk fibers have been sprinkled throughout the paper genuine bills are printed on. Seen against the white background, I suppose that’s meant to be mildly patriotic.

Plastic security thread: A special security thread runs through the bill and glows red when the bill is exposed to UV light. That’s what some of those bill-detectors they use at the store are looking for. This thread appears in different positions in bills of different denominations. It seems counterfeiters were bleaching $5 bills and printing them as $100 bills.

Super fine printing: Grab a magnifying glass next time you have a “Benjamin” in your possession. Focus on the super tiny details on Benjamin Franklin’s lapel and you’ll discover the tiny words “the United States of America” in clear, crisp printing. Any printing process inferior to that of the U.S. Treasury will muddy up those words and show you you’re looking at a fake.

Color-shifting ink: The latest bills have a new version of this ink that shifts from copper to green depending on the angle you’re looking at the bill. Try finding that ink to put in your home printer!

Motion security ribbon: One of the cleverest features of the newest $100 bills is a strip of Liberty Bells that shift to the numerals “100” as you tilt the bill.

If you’ve ever been fooled, as I have, perhaps you’d show a little caution when receiving a large denomination bill. However, the U. S. Treasury insists that only about one-tenth of one percent of all bills are counterfeits. I suspect you’re not likely to see one anytime soon.

Ever spot a counterfeit person? I mean someone who claims to be what they aren’t. A few years ago I met a construction worker who wouldn’t trust any Christians. He had been attending a place where the so-called pastor had stolen his wife. The pain, disappointment and mistrust were still evident in his voice as he spoke to me. In one sense, who could blame him? In fact, every Christian comes short of completely and perfectly representing Jesus Christ to people they meet. Does that mean that the genuine, perfect Jesus Christ doesn’t have a message for them? Will they be able to stand before a holy God and blame others for their unbelief? The Bible says “every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12). Saying we refused the claims of the genuine Christ because we encountered counterfeit Christians will have no weight with God. Read How to Know for Sure He’s Genuine to get to know a few of the genuine features of the real Son of God.

How to Know for Sure He's Genuine

Many say it’s easier to spot a counterfeit $100 bill by knowing the features of a genuine one. For example, if you look at recent genuine bills, you’ll find the words “the United States of America” printed in crisp, tiny letters on the lapel of Benjamin Franklin’s coat. Any normal printing process would have muddied those into a wavy ribbon of ink. You could spot a fake bill that had lots of similarities to the real thing by its tiny shortcomings. Anything short of the high quality original is a fake. Even if it’s missing just one key feature, its value drops from being able to buy a delicious meal for the family to buying a one-way ticket to about twenty years in federally-provided cement-block housing and orange jumpsuits.

There are lots of muddied portraits, blurred images and counterfeit biographies of Jesus Christ. I’m not talking about religious icons but about the fuzzy ideas so many have about who the Lord Jesus Christ really is. Little bits and pieces of truth like “He was a good man,” “He lived many years ago and then died on a cross,” and “He was a great teacher” get jumbled together with fatal errors. Wouldn’t you like to really know the One who made you? After all, Jesus Himself said, “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ” (John 17:3).

Here are six characteristics of the genuine, living Son of God known as Jesus Christ.

1. Perfectly transparent: You’ve heard of hidden agendas, double meanings, being stabbed in the back, false pretenses and hype. Consider this: “Who art Thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning” (John 8:25). The Lord Jesus Christ was absolutely perfectly consistent in everything He said and did. He never told so-called white lies or pretended to be anything that He wasn’t. He never blocked the shining out of the light of God. No one else can claim anything close to that beautiful perfection.

2. Flawless behavior: The best of people “mess up” once in a while. We say “nobody’s perfect,” “we need to cut them some slack,” “let them grow up,” “be charitable” or “allow for growth.” In business or parenting, the boss or parent needs to let the employee or child “learn from their mistakes.” But here’s what God’s Word says about Jesus: “Who did no sin” (1 Peter 2:22). What would it be like to personally get to know the One who would never misrepresent you behind your back? How would you like to find someone who never cut you off on the road, never took a share that wasn’t His, never slacked off on His share of the work, never “flew off the handle”? Would that perfect behavior expose your “good guy/girl” image for what it is — a counterfeit of the true character of God? Would you be tempted to search for flaws or assume that the portrait of Christ had been retouched to remove flaws and weaknesses?

3. Never misled anyone: Consider this phrase carefully: “Neither was guile found in His mouth” (1 Peter 2:22). The word “guile” is a lot softer than “lying” to most ears. There are lots of ads that misrepresent a product. The advertiser gets us to pull off the road and into the parking lot with the big sign advertising “kids eat free” only to notice the “Tuesdays after 8 p.m.” in small print as we are walking into the restaurant with our family. But Jesus Christ never had the slightest shade of that in more than thirty-three years of living on this earth. Not once, not ever, did He present anything as different than it really was.

4. Never had unclean thoughts: Some people who are able to “keep from flying off the handle” or manage to show pretty decent self-control would be terribly embarrassed to have their thoughts spread out on a big screen TV for passersby to read. But of Jesus it says, “Who knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Not once did He wish for something that wasn’t His. He never seethed inwardly when His earthly parents misunderstood Him. There was never a trace of irritability when the crowds pressed up against Him, making it hard to move — not even a flash of irritation across the brain that had to be refused.

5. Has no ability to sin: All great winning streaks come to an end. Top-notch athletes eventually have a bad game or “go through the motions.” And they all gradually wear down physically to the point where “they just can’t bring it” like they used to. But Jesus Christ can’t sin. There’s nothing in Him that wanted, wants or will ever want to displease God the Father. Their agreement is always perfect, consistent and pure. Here’s the way God’s Word states that fact simply: “In Him is no sin” (1 John 3:5).

6. Has no need to ever change and never will: Many people who get married discover they have some adjustments to make. I never really had any sense of how selfish I was until the first year of my marriage. But Jesus Christ doesn’t need to change. We wouldn’t want Him to. That’s why it’s a delight to hear the words, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). There’s no person, product, place or partner that doesn’t need that continual tweaking to make it better. But the Lord Jesus Christ is literally perfect. Any change would be to create a flaw. I’m so thankful that can never happen.

After years of disappointments with people, including many Christians, and, let’s be honest, with ourselves as well, it may be hard to believe that all this perfection can be found in a person. Read and carefully listen to what is said about Jesus Christ in the Word of God. Thoughtfully consider the books of the Bible that tell about His life in detail — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. If you do so, you’ll discover a true portrait of a perfect man. “O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him” (Psa. 34:8).

The more anyone honestly looks at Jesus Christ, the more they will see how utterly unlike Him they are. God won’t accept anyone into heaven with a character inferior to Christ’s in any way. Look back at the six characteristics listed above. Have you ever, in any way, come up short in any of them? Because Jesus Christ came to earth, died on Calvary’s cross, shed His blood to make a full payment for sin and rose again from the dead, God can offer to make you just like His Son. There is no other way to enter heaven. No promises of reform, good works or efforts to do better have any value to Him. The only payment for sin He accepts is the genuine work of His Son. Everything else, however good it looks to an untrained eye, is counterfeit. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Will you present to God the only “currency” He accepts, the blood of Jesus Christ, or are you planning to present a counterfeit, your own good works? How you answer will determine where you spend eternity.

With the huge number of counterfeits around us, it’s a wonderful thing to find Someone we can have confidence in. Find out more about Him in Certainty in an Uncertain World.

Certainty in an Uncertain World

“I was out walking in my backyard enjoying the fresh air and the view. I had just reentered the house, when looking out the back window I saw my backyard in an instant disappear from view! The ground I had been standing on just a few minutes earlier had suddenly fallen down the high bank and crumbled into the ocean!” a homeowner in the San Juan Islands told reporters. What had seemed so solid under his feet had simply vanished. Unfortunately, after this incident, the man had to evacuate his beautiful oceanfront home because of the instability of the ground.

In Central Florida, a young man in the prime of his life went to sleep in the safe haven of his home. In the middle of the night, a sink hole opened up under his bedroom, swallowing him, never again to be seen alive!

This world we live in is an uncertain place. Even the ground which seems so stable under our feet may prove to be uncertain. Where can certainty be found? Only in God, who is incapable of failing or falsehood, and in His precious Word, the Bible. The Saviour said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but My words shall not pass away” (Mark 13:31). The promises God has made in His Word are the only solid ground we can stand on that will never give way under our feet.

His greatest promise concerns the gift of eternal life. “This is the promise that He hath promised us, even eternal life” (1 John 2:25). He has promised that sinners who place their faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, will spend eternity with Him in heaven. “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

A person can be 100% certain that they have eternal life when they believe in Christ. Where else can you find 100% certainty? Won’t you come to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith so that you might have the certainty of eternal life in this otherwise uncertain world of ours?

The Atheist, Agnostic and Christian

The Atheist

There is no God: Who tells me that this span

Of petty pain and pleasure is controlled

By other than the whim-led will of man?

He must be blind, or fool. I cannot hold

Your dreamer’s notion of a guiding hand;

There is no God whom I can understand.

The Agnostic

I do not know; there may be One above

Who sees the strange enigma of our life,

And wisely holds its key — perhaps in love;

Who overrules our struggle, knows our strife;

But it is all conjecture still, to me;

I will believe, when I can clearly see.

The Christian

I know whom I believe. The questions rise —

The problems are not few — but I have seen

The vision far transcending all surmise,

A love that plans, a strength on which I lean;

My Master rules, for faith has told me so;

I know Him whom I have believed — I know!

The Safety Net Under the Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge was built in the 1930s at a cost of $30,000,000. Engineers of steel structures had a rule of thumb — for every million dollars spent on construction, one steel worker would probably lose his life in an accident. Those were the days before the industry developed many of today’s safety practices. The Golden Gate Bridge was a particularly risky project because of the gusty winds and fogs that sometimes blew in unexpectedly off the Pacific Ocean.

Ed Sprague, the chief engineer of the Bridge, was not happy with the prospect of so many men dying. He decided to do something about it. After the 746-foot-tall towers were erected, he ordered a giant safety net to be installed. This safety net was stretched out under the working men, and it saved many lives. The safety net involved a lot expense, but it proved cost effective because the work progressed at a faster pace.

When the Golden Gate Bridge was finished, it made it possible for cars to travel across a great expanse of water. Each one of us is a traveler on the road to eternity. But a great expanse has opened up between God and sinful men. The Lord Jesus died and gave up His life so that sinners might have a way to cross that great expanse. When someone realizes their sinful condition and believes on His name, they receive the remission of sins. This means that all their sins are wiped away, and they are seen as righteous in His sight.

The moment a person believes in Christ marks the beginning of a special journey. Believers are to live as if they are making a “passage” through this life and their true home and destination is heaven. As they try to live for Christ, they may stumble and fall because they still possess a human nature that has been twisted by sin. However, God has placed a safety net under them which will catch them. This permits the believer to get back up and continue on his or her way until the journey is finished. Proverbs 24:16 reads, “A just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again.”

But it doesn’t work that way with people who reject the message of God’s grace and forgiveness. “The wicked shall fall into mischief” (Proverbs 24:16). There is no safety net under them to protect them. As long as they are alive, they may still turn from their sins to the Saviour and receive the gift of eternal life. But when this life is over, if they remained resistant to the gospel, they will fall from the heights of this world into a real hell, and there will be nothing to stop their fall. “These shall go away into everlasting punishment,” the Lord Jesus said (Matthew 25:46). It’s terribly sad to think about a worker falling from a bridge to their death, but it is a thousand times worse to think of a soul falling from this life into the darkness and depths of a lost eternity!

The Chief Engineer of the universe puts a great value on the souls He has created. He values and loves them immensely and has done all He can possibly do to save them. He spared no cost in sending the Lord Jesus into the world. He doesn’t want any to perish but desires all men to return to Him. “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Won’t you start on the way to heaven today, by repenting of your sins and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ?

You might not be an iron worker, but you’ve certainly had a car ride before. Next time you strap on the seat belt, you can put the message of the next two stories back into the front of your mind.

A Catastrophe on a Texas Highway

On Thanksgiving Day 2012, a dense fog from the Gulf of Mexico covered southeastern Texas, reducing visibility to a few yards. The roads were busy with holiday traffic when the first cars collided outside Beaumont. In the poor visibility, vehicle after vehicle crashed into what would become a gigantic pileup. When it was over, 120 vehicles—cars, small trucks and semis—had plowed into one another. The wreckage of twisted and mangled cars—some on top of one another—stretched out over the span of a few blocks. Two people were killed and scores of others were seriously injured.

“Reduce speed in dangerous conditions” is advice drivers should never forget. It is sound advice in a spiritual sense too. All the billions of people in this world are speeding down the highway of life. Good advice for all those travelers would be to slow down and seriously consider the safety of the life-road they’re on.

The Lord Jesus spoke of two roads: the narrow road that leads to life and the broad road that leads to destruction. “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). Every person in this world is traveling down one of these two roads.

How about slowing down on the road of life for a moment and asking yourself if you are right with God. If you haven’t repented and put your faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, then you are on the broad road that leads to destruction. At the end of their lives, people who have lived without God will end up crashing into the human wreckage of hell where “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12). Hell is the solemn, tragic consequence for the serious action of choosing to live apart from God. It is the final destination for the unrepentant.

If you realize that you are on the broad way that leads to destruction, don’t despair! God sent His Son to be your Saviour. “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14). He didn’t do this because men were leading decent lives and just needed a little help. He did this because all had fallen deeply into sin and otherwise did not have a chance of escaping the just condemnation of a holy God. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). He knew their lost and ruined condition and came to save them. Through the gospel, God is reaching out to sinners and inviting them to receive His richest blessings.

Listen up! You don’t have to journey through life following the sinful crowd in front of you until you crash into a lost eternity. Christ died for you. The Creator of the universe took upon Himself the form of a servant, became a man, and gave His life for sinners. When a sinner believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, the infinite value of the sacrifice made on the cross is placed over their account, and God declares them forgiven, justified and fit for heaven. Men do not make up this way of salvation. It is far too wonderful to be the product of a human mind. God is the author of it, and He planned it before the universe was created. Although God is infinitely rich in wisdom and love, and men and women are dismally weak and poor through sin, He values each and every one of them so much that He was willing to give His Son so they can be saved.

The moment a person believes in Christ is the moment they receive the gift of eternal life. Once they receive this gift, He will never leave them but will be with them, always helping them by His grace. “Lo, I am with you alway[s], even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). By His grace, they will be enabled to live lives characterized by obedience, faith, love and truth. This is what it means to enter the narrow way, and the end of this road is heaven and all its bright joys.

Don’t continue to half-blindly follow the crowd that will end up crashing one after another in the place of sorrow and darkness. Instead, come to the Lord Jesus Christ who has shown He loves you beyond any shadow of doubt through what He has done.

A policeman who responded to the multiple-car wreckage in Texas called it a “catastrophe.” Will you avoid the far greater catastrophe of eternal punishment by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ? Don’t delay, dawdle or dally with your decision. In How That Van Made It Through! you’ll be reminded of the hairbreadth that separates life and death.

How That Van Made It Through!

My work required frequent travel to small rural towns. Often I would cover hundreds of miles in a day.

On one occasion, I had been driving all day in my old minivan along winding two-lane roads through southern Missouri. I passed into northern Arkansas in the early evening and was looking forward to arriving at the motel in Jonesboro to rest before my appointment in town the next morning. It was dark, about 9 o’clock in the evening, and a steady rain was falling as I drove southbound along Highway 63. Having come out of the Ozark Mountains, the road was now straight and flat.

I was aware of the large, 18-wheel tractor-trailer rig following close behind me but gave it little attention. It won’t be long before I arrive at my destination in Jonesboro, I thought.

As I was approaching a small bridge, I noticed the headlights of a vehicle coming from the south crossing into my lane. Was I doing something wrong? I briefly wondered. No, I was in the right lane. The vehicle approaching me now seemed to be headed straight for me! We were both traveling about fifty miles per hour. Pulling onto the shoulder of the road was impossible, as I was too close to the bridge where the shoulder ended. I wondered, If I increase my speed, could I make it to the other side of the bridge and pull over in time to avoid a head-on collision? No! The vehicle was approaching too fast. It seemed we were destined to meet on the bridge head-on! I was convinced that I was going to be seriously injured or lose my life in the next moment. I moved as far to the right as I could without striking the bridge rail. I now had time only for a two-word prayer: “Oh, Lord!” I shouted.

Everything happened in a flash. The next thing I knew, I had passed the on-coming vehicle and immediately heard the sound of a loud crash right behind me. As soon as I cleared the bridge, I pulled over onto the shoulder of the road.

I sat briefly, stunned at what had just happened. But a tremendous sense of relief came over me as I realized I had, somehow, squeezed through an extremely narrow opening.

A man ran up to my window and asked if I was okay. “Yes,” I answered and got out of my van. It was then that I realized what that loud crash was that I had heard behind me. The on-coming vehicle, a red pickup truck, had crashed head-on into the tractor-trailer rig that had been following me. I had squeezed through, but the big rig was too wide to do the same. The driver of the red pickup was dead.

Both trucks were totaled. My van had only a broken mirror and a long horizontal scratch on the driver-side window. That is as close to a high-speed, head-on collision as I ever want to be! I will never forget the words of the driver of the tractor-trailer rig when interviewed by the highway patrol officer: “I don’t know how that van made it through!” he declared. I know how I made it through, because “the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them” (Psalm 34:7).

There were two radically different outcomes in the accident — one person dead and one unscathed. Your eternal soul has one of two outcomes as well, heaven with Christ Jesus where all who put their trust in Him will “meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17), or an eternal separation from all “grace and truth” (John 1:17). Which will it be for you?

Ten Cents

On this particular morning my friend Garvin and I were alone. Usually we don’t travel about Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, without someone local with us. However, we know the city well, and I knew that the school where we were headed for our next appointment was just about a ten- to fifteen-minute walk from the bus terminal. When we arrived at the terminal about 10:30 a.m., we quickly gathered together our satchels and headed across Independence Square at the city center. This area has always been notorious for street crime and violence. However, we figured that there were two of us, that it was broad daylight, and that we were only going a couple of blocks to a high school where they were expecting us that morning.

As we left Independence Square and started up Nelson Street, my friend Garvin’s cell phone rang. It was our friend with whom we were staying. Knowing that we would be in transit, he was calling to check on us, to make sure we were okay. As Garvin talked on the phone, we walked slowly along the left side of the street in the close quarters, among the concrete buildings and the blacktop maze of streets and alleyways. You don’t tend to move fast when it’s almost one hundred degrees and humid.

Suddenly, I realized we had a problem. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a young man trailing us. He was well over six feet tall, and his T-shirt was pulled up over his mouth and nose.

Without alerting Garvin, I decided to test the situation, and so I slowed down almost to a stop. The man who was following us slowed down as well. Then I stopped completely! He passed us and then stopped as well. I knew we were in trouble, and I knew that, though we were on a crowded street, there was no one to help us but the Lord.

The moment Garvin pushed the “end” button on his cell phone, the man with the shirt pulled up to his eyes attacked me from behind. If I had not been watching and ready for him, he would have pushed me to the street, but I grabbed a nearby pole and braced myself.

Though I’d never been mugged before, I’ve had lots of scary experiences. I’ve wondered if the boat was going to go to the bottom of the sea. Was the plane going to make the runway? We’ve had our house broken into and ransacked, and I’ve been in hurricanes, on sides of volcanoes, been held at gunpoint in the jungle, and in other dangerous situations. But I’ve never had an experience quite like this. It is one thing to have your space violated by another person, but quite another thing to have your person violated.

The attacker dove for the money that was in my pocket, which wasn’t very much, and he thoroughly roughed me up as well. Of course, as soon as I yelled and struggled away, Garvin was immediately alerted, and we quickly crossed the street. There were some shops there and a lot of people milling about and going here and there. We thought surely there would be somebody that would help us. There were street vendors by the side of the road, as well as shopkeepers, but nobody would even look in our direction. Garvin tried to appeal to one of the vendors for help, but as we learned later, the vendors usually partner with these street bandits by hiding the stolen goods.

Suddenly, both Garvin and I realized my attacker had an accomplice. The first man ducked into a nearby doorway and whispered something to the second man and then started back towards us. By this time, we had moved far enough down the street that I could see the school ahead. I indicated to Garvin that we were going to pray hard and make a run for it. I knew this was our only hope. The school compound was surrounded with a chain-link fence having barbed wire on top and an armed guard at the gate. Once we got inside the chain-link fence, we would be safe.

At this point, things became a blur for me as we took off for the school. Between the gunfire, the confusion of dodging people and vehicles, the noise and general uproar, I don’t remember much of the next few moments.

The Lord got us safely inside the gate and under the protection of the security guards. Once inside, we quickly explained the situation. We were immediately taken to the principal’s office. The police were called, as the men were still outside the school gate, evidently waiting for us to leave. That’s how brazen these street bandits are even in the middle of the day!

When two police officers arrived, we explained what had happened and were told that we must go down to the police station and make a full report. Although they did not tell us at the time, they knew who my attacker was by my description. We found out later that he was a notorious criminal with the street name of “Ten Cents.” The police left the school, and we promised to meet them at the station, having arranged with a teacher friend to drive us there. The police offered to take us, but we opted for the ride with those we knew. Garvin and I were pretty shaken and just wanted to be with friends.

We got into the car and pulled out of the schoolyard. When we reached the corner, there were the two men spread against the wall, and the police had their pistols on them. The one man, “Ten Cents,” who had attacked me, saw us out of the corner of his eye. I don’t know what kind of fancy maneuver he pulled, but he left his T-shirt in the police officer’s hand and escaped! There was gunfire, but apparently he slipped away through a large drainpipe.

We went to the police station and filled out an official report. As we were answering questions from the officer behind the desk, the two policemen whom we had dealt with at the school entered the room. In that large room full of desks with men and women filling out reports, interviewing people, and bustling back and forth, it seemed like utter confusion, until one of the officers who had just entered announced in a loud voice, “It was Ten Cents!”

It still makes my blood run cold to recall the initial silence and then the ripple of murmured conversation that went around the room. The officer we were dealing with at the desk leaned over and explained that “Ten Cents” was a very notorious and dangerous street-gang leader in Trinidad and that he had been given the name “Ten Cents” because he would kill you for as little as ten cents!

With our police interview concluded, we were urged to get in the car that was waiting for us and to leave Port-of-Spain immediately. We were urged never to travel in the city alone and without local friends to escort us with secure transportation.

To put this story down on paper has been very difficult for me. For about a year following the incident, I would wake up in the night and see people running in every direction, and still, in my mind, I would hear gunfire and smell the gun smoke. In fact, it took going back to Trinidad a year later and driving down Nelson Street in a secure vehicle to finally get me past the trauma of the whole affair. But the real cure was prayer and the Lord Himself, who is the Great Physician.

You may understandably ask, “Then why did you take the trouble to record this story if it was so painful?” There are several reasons.

It’s important to understand that our enemy Satan only wants us for what he can get out of us. He’s a taker and a destroyer. I am reminded of the statement in the Bible recorded by Solomon who said, “The way of transgressors is hard” (Proverbs 13:15). I am told that many of these men start their life of street crime at eight or nine years of age, and usually they do not live long. “The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened” (Proverbs 10:27). In fact, just a few years after this incident, “Ten Cents” was murdered at twenty-three years of age. The Trinidad newspaper carried the following headline on Thursday, December 10, 2009:

“TEN CENTS’ MURDERED!”

The story began: “Murderer accused Joel ‘Ten Cents’ Patino, 23, of East Dry River, was gunned down on Nelson Street in Port-of-Spain on Tuesday evening ... ”

To live a life of sin and crime is one thing, but to enter into the next life without Christ is fatal. The Lord warned, “I say unto you My friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him” (Luke 12:4-5).

By contrast, God is a giver and delights to give many wonderful gifts to mankind. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

Satan can never rob a true believer in the Lord Jesus of his or her salvation. The Lord said, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand” (John 10:28). Thankfully we have One who is greater than Satan, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). I am thankful that I have the great giving Lord Jesus as my Saviour and my Friend. Do you?

You can find out more about how He delights to deliver in the next story, The Prisoner of Glatz.

The Prisoner of Glatz

In a fold of a mountain range in Upper Silesia, through which the wild Niesse river forces its passage down to the Oder, stands the impregnable Prussian fortress of Glatz, a natural fortress, almost unequalled in the world, surrounded by mountain peaks like walls. The valley itself is shut out from the rest of the world, and anyone enclosed by the massive walls and gratings of the castle is as if buried alive.

Here lay the Count of Montague, formerly pampered but now hopelessly trapped. By treason and the attempted murder of Frederic William III of Prussia, he was condemned to solitary imprisonment for life. For a whole year he lay in his frightful, lonely cell, without one star of hope. They had left him only one book — a Bible — and this, for a long period, the skeptical Count would not read, or, if forced to take it up to kill time, it was only read with anger and bitterness against the God it reveals. But the more he read the Bible, the more he felt the pressure of the gentle hand of God on his heart.

On a stormy November night, when the winds howled around the fortress, the rain fell in torrents, and the swollen Niesse roared down the valley, the Count lay sleepless on his cot. The storm in his heart was as fearful as the one outside. His past troubled him; he was convicted of his shortcomings and sins. For the first time in his life, his heart was soft, and he genuinely repented. Rising from his cot, he opened his Bible, and his eye fell on, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me” (Psalm 50:15). This Word of God reached his soul and he cried to God for mercy. And that gracious and compassionate God heard the cry of this sufferer in the storm-beaten dungeon of Glatz.

That same night in his castle, at Berlin, King Frederic lay sleepless in bed. Severe pain tortured him, and in his utter exhaustion he begged God to give him one hour of refreshing sleep. The favor was granted, and when he woke again, he said to his wife, “God has looked upon me very graciously, and I may well be thankful to Him. Who in my kingdom has wronged me most? I will forgive him.”

“The Count of Montague,” replied Louise, “who is imprisoned in Glatz.”

“You are right,” said the sick king; “let him be pardoned.”

Before dawn in Berlin, a messenger was sent to Silesia, taking a full pardon to the prisoner in Glatz.

Have you returned “unto the Lord” and discovered that “He will have mercy ... and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7)?

Find out more about the God who gives in The Urban Philosopher.

The Urban Philosopher

I’m a university student. To save money, I ride the public transit buses to the campus, and I meet a lot of interesting people on those rides.

One day as I was staring out the bus window, I overheard two men talking. At first I didn’t pay much attention, but as their conversation developed, it caught my interest. The one seemed to be expounding on life, while the other listened attentively and made positive comments. This urban philosopher spoke about many things, but one proverb stood out. He said, “Every day is a gift; that’s why they call it the ‘present.’ ”

This simple phrase made me smile. In everyday life, it can be so easy to forget the simple truth that every day is a gift from God. His Son, Christ Jesus, died on the cross over 2000 years ago to give us both an eternal life in heaven, if we believe on Him, and also a life that we can live with Him while here on earth. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). Through Christ’s sacrifice, we can live each day with His Spirit living in us.

“Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15).

Salvations' Day

Like a sheep that’s gone astray,

Every moment takes you farther

From the straight and narrow way.

As a silly sheep, not knowing

Where the path you tread will lead,

Straying further into darkness —

None but Christ can meet your need.

Listen to the wondrous story,

Jesus came the lost to save;

Gave His life, His blood on Calvary;

Rose victorious from the grave.

Lives in glory to receive you:

None are ever turned away,

While the door of mercy’s open,

While it’s called Salvation’s Day.

Now to me He calls in mercy,

Calls to you, to all oppressed;

Yes, to you the word is written:

Come, and I will give you rest.”

Faithful Warnings From Faithful Friends

On the night of May 19, 1915, Mt. Lassen in northern California was ripped apart by an enormous explosion. Massive mudflows, hot ash and gas flowed down the mountainside, swelling nearby creeks and rivers. In its path lay the sleeping residents of the little settlement of Hat Creek that had gradually become accustomed to the sounds and smells of the small releases of steam the awakening giant had been belching.

Elmer Sorahan was awakened by his dog. Not only did his dog bark loudly, but he put his paws on Elmer’s chest to wake him up. After going outside, Elmer saw a thundering twelve-foot high mass of mud and logs roaring down the creek. He took off running nearly a mile downstream to warn his nearest neighbors, the Halls. Bursting through their door he yelled, “Get out! Get out! There’s a flood coming.”

Among other residents living down the creek was Harvey Wilcox, who also had a dog that awakened him. Harvey barely had time to grab his clothes and run to higher ground before the flood took away his house and everything in it. Others received phone calls from the Hall family warning them to flee immediately. It is remarkable that these two dogs were given the ability by God to sense danger coming and to faithfully warn their masters. Because of the actions of these dogs and, later, the phone calls, the entire settlement escaped with their lives, though their houses were nearly all destroyed by the flood.

I’m reminded of another faithful warning given to us in the Word of God. There God “now [commands] all men everywhere to repent: because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man [the Lord Jesus Christ] whom He hath ordained” (Acts 17:30-31). These people living along Hat Creek, without exception, acted upon the report of judgment coming and were all spared. Now what about you? For nearly two thousand years the love of God for this world has been proclaimed, and now the good news for you is that “God [commends] His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Though we have all offended God by our having sinned, yet He has mercy and pardon for all who sincerely show “repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21).

It is one thing to have our lives spared, like the residents along Hat Creek, but it is far more important to have our souls saved. This is not possible by our own efforts, but by taking God at His word and having a “change of mind” as to our condition before a righteous and holy God. By believing that Jesus, the Son of God, bore the punishment we deserved while He hung on the cross of Calvary, we receive the forgiveness of sins. There He suffered and gave His life as a perfect sacrifice for sin, and then God raised Him from among the dead as a victorious Saviour.

The Lord was gracious to those people in California ninety-nine years ago, and He wants to be gracious to you today. The Lord Jesus is a wonderful Saviour, and He has room in His heart for you if you will simply put your trust in Him as your own Saviour. While a dog is often referred to as “man’s best friend,” how much more is the Lord Jesus like a friend that sticks closer than a brother. “Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee” (Job 22:21). Job also went on to say that God looks “upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light” (Job 33:27-28). God loves you and has a purpose of blessing in your life. He has made full provision for your eternal happiness if you will come to Christ just as you are and believe that He died to put your sins away. Won’t you trust Him now?

His loving warnings about the dangers of sin and His remedy are worth your careful consideration in the next story, Heart Disease

Heart Disease

Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death for both men and women worldwide. When a person suffers from heart disease, the small arteries that bring fresh blood and oxygen to the muscle of the heart become constricted due to plaque build-up. This eventually causes heart failure. A cold, hard fact about heart disease is that in the upcoming year it will kill over 600,000 people in the U.S.A. This number is roughly equivalent to the total number of casualties on both sides in the Civil War. Medical experts also tell us that approximately one out of every four people living today will eventually die from the condition.

The good news is that heart disease can be prevented through exercise and healthy eating habits. The bad news is that if heart disease doesn’t get you, eventually something else will. This is because we have contracted a different kind of heart disease called “sin.” “As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). A disease is a lack of bodily health. Sin is a disease of our souls and a lack in our spiritual health. It is a deficiency, a breakdown in the relationship between God, the source of all goodness and blessing, and the hearts of men and women He has made.

If not addressed, the heart disease of sin will eventually bring death and ruin on every member of the human race. Death has a double aspect about it. Physical death results when a soul is separated from a body, and it is grim indeed. But spiritual death has an even greater impact and takes place when a soul is separated from God’s goodness and love forever. Souls who die in their sins will be sent away to the “outer darkness” of hell. “The children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12). The heart disease of sin is nothing to trifle with. A cold, hard fact about sin is that it causes eternal death.

But God has good news. There is a Great Physician for eternity-bound souls. The Great Physician is the Lord Jesus Christ who, so He might have a medicine to heal this most bitter of diseases, gave His life at Calvary. “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3).

By His death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus provided the one remedy for the heart disease of sin. He is the “Sun of righteousness” who arose with “healing in His wings” (Malachi 4:2). As the Great Physician, He gives the gifts of forgiveness and eternal life to all who come to Him by faith. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

In the Bible we read how multitudes of sick, lame and diseased folks came to the Lord Jesus while He walked on earth, and He healed every one of them. “When Jesus knew it, He withdrew Himself from thence: and great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all” (Matthew 12:15). The same is true now for all those who realize the sinful condition of their hearts and come to Him by faith. He fully delivers them from the consequences of their sins through His death on the cross. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

When they die, their souls will be welcomed into the glories of heaven. Then at a future moment the bodies of believers will be made anew and reunited with their souls. In their resurrected state they will never be touched with any kind of physical or spiritual ailment again. For all eternity they will enjoy the presence of God in a most marvelous way. This is the truly healthy result of trusting in the Great Physician, the Saviour of sinners!

“Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). Won’t you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Great Physician of souls, that He might be your Saviour?

“When Jesus heard it, He saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17).

Your heart health may appear to be good, but don’t let your spiritual health slip for as long as the man in Ben Veggors’ Interrupted Meal.

Ben Veggors' Interrupted Meal

Ben Veggors was a chaplain at the Veteran’s Hospital not far from his home in a Western town. Having fulfilled his duties one particular day, he made his way across town to his home to have supper with his wife and spend the evening together as they usually did.

Just as they were about to begin their nice, hot meal, the phone rang. It was the hospital calling to ask if he could come back in to see a man who had just been put on the “watch list” as one who may not live until the morning.

Being one who wanted to help men see their need of a Saviour’s blood because of their ruined, hopeless condition before a holy God, he felt he should respond to their request. He left his wife and the nice meal and headed back to the Veteran’s Hospital.

Upon arrival, he made his way to the area where he knew such patients were kept and looked up the man he had been requested to see, whom they felt didn’t have long to live. When he entered the room and made his presence known, there was no response from the man. He lay silently in the bed in a coma.

Ben had seen men like this before and felt pity for him, hoping he had found peace with God and was ready to enter those courts above to be with his Saviour. But not knowing if this was the case, he felt his obligation before God to tell him the way to heaven.

He didn’t know if he could still hear, being in such a state of unresponsiveness, but knowing that one’s hearing is often the last faculty to leave a person, he spoke in the dying man’s ear the words from the Bible that tell the way for lost, hell-deserving sinners to find peace with God.

After feeling he had sufficiently covered the subject, he prayed with the man and got up to leave the room. As he got to the door, he felt something restraining him, and the words came to him, “If that was your son lying there in that state, would you only say that much to him?”

Upon this consideration, Ben turned and went back to speak more to this poor man who was undoubtedly not long for this world. He went over various other scriptures with him and earnestly pleaded with him, as if he could hear him, that he needed to find peace with God without delay because death may be near at hand.

He prayed more fervently for him and then left him, feeling satisfied in his conscience that he had plainly and clearly explained to the man all that was needed for his salvation. Mr. Veggors then went home to supper with his wife.

A couple of days later, as Ben was making his rounds at the hospital, he passed the room where he had spoken to the man that night. As he passed by, he noticed on the chart outside the door that the man had died. He wondered, Had the man been saved? Was he in the presence of the Lord Jesus or was he in the place for those who have refused the offer of mercy and pardon and are waiting for their final judgment day?

As he continued on down the hallway, he heard a woman behind him call to him. He turned to find three women coming up to him with a question. “Are you the man who spoke to our brother in this room the other night?” Ben said that yes, he was. Then they began to tell him their interesting story.

They told him they were all sisters of this man who had died. When they heard their brother was not expected to live, they all felt they should come to try to see him before he died. They further told Ben that they were all Christians and that their brother was the “black sheep of the family.”

They had been praying for him and trying to reason with him for years, but it had all been worthless as far as they could tell. When they got to the hospital and found him unresponsive, they wondered if there was any hope for him, and they sat around talking and praying for their brother that God would be merciful to him.

They were suddenly very surprised to see their brother sit up in the bed and exclaim, “I’m saved!” The sisters could hardly believe their ears and very hopefully inquired of him how that could possibly be. He told them that Ben had come into his room one evening and had told him the way of salvation very clearly, that he had accepted God’s offer to wash away his sins, and now he was on the way to heaven! Then he fell back on the bed and was gone!

What Really Matters?

One hundred thousand pounds of dynamite along with gas, gunpowder, detonators and fuses waited for use in the copper mine up in the hills five miles away from Nacozari, Mexico. Their explosive might lay quietly in the storage dump of the bustling town of five thousand nestled in a bowl-like valley a little south of the Arizona border. Just outside the vast storage dump, Jesús Garcia climbed back up into steam engine #2 to drag the open-topped boxcars of hay, about ten thousand pounds of dynamite in wooden boxes and supplies up the steep grade to the mine. As the train began to pull out of the yard, sparks flew out of the smoke stack and settled on one of the dynamite crates. Smoke quickly began drifting up out of its sides. It was shortly after 2:00 p.m., November 7, 1907, less than a week until Jesús planned to celebrate his twenty-fourth birthday.

Despite his age, Jesús Garcia Corona was already highly respected and loved. He’d begun work at the American-run mine at seventeen years old and within only three years had risen from waterboy through four promotions to full-fledged train engineer. The Moctezuma Copper Corporation thought enough of him to send him to the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. His reputation for his excellent work ethic and clear head had grown steadily. Just the month before, the brakes of his wood-fired steam engine had failed while running on the steep grade. Jesús immediately reversed the engines, dumped sand on the tracks to increase friction and got the train stopped only fifteen feet from the end of the tracks.

The handsome Jesús with his dark black moustache and jaunty hat found plenty of time for his childhood sweetheart, María de Jesús Soqui. Now that she was his fiancée, he frequently found occasions to hire the best bands in town to serenade her.

Back at the supply depot in Nacozari, a mine official stepped from his office and spotted the smoking box of dynamite. His screams sent García and his crew scrambling to put out the fire. But sparks and wind ignited the box cars filled with hay and the smoke from the dynamite box thickened steadily. Then small flames began to spurt from the box. Over the din and smoke a voice rang out, “Get out ... go away ... run ... leave me alone!” The fireman was kicked from the cab and the remaining crew ordered to decouple cars that hadn’t caught fire. Then Jesús slammed the engine to full throttle and raced for the edge of town. He couldn’t let the train run by itself; the steam would quickly die out and the engine roll back down the grade toward the dynamite warehouse, his fiancée, his mother and the other five thousand unsuspecting residents. Jesús García gunned for the far side of a small ridge that would shield the town from the railroad tracks.

Nearly two thousand years ago Jesús García’s namesake sat in a large upper room somewhere in a far larger town than Nacozari and on the edge of a far more explosive situation. For four thousand years, the situation had been worsening and difficulty mounting. Unless something could be done, all those He loved faced certain destruction.

Straining with all its might, the little engine passed behind the small ridge that shielded Nacozari. Ahead lay a small Camp 6, something like a small suburb to the town. If Jesús could just make it past the camp he would be able to leap from the train and let it roll ahead into a mountain wilderness. He cleared the final two houses. Only 160 more feet and he could bail out.

Thousands of years before Jesus Christ had no plans for “bailing out.” He allowed Himself to be seized by those that hated Him and brought to an unjust trial. There the judge declared, “I, having examined Him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse Him” (Luke 23:14), just prior to turning Him over to the mob to be cruelly tortured. The Lord Jesus Christ knew exactly what He had to do in order to liberate the ones He loved from the explosive, destructive mess of disobedience and sin that they (and we) had created. His plan included horrific suffering where He would be punished by a holy God in order to take away the sin of the world. Matthew 27:42 Says, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save.” And so calmly, consciously, purposefully He offered Himself up as a sacrifice for sin.

Below in Nacozari, at 2:20 p.m., windows across town were shattered by the sudden detonation of ten thousand pounds of dynamite. For two minutes, gravel and hunks of metal rained from the November skies. And then it was over. Somewhere near Camp 6, searchers found a single boot with a few unrecognizable remains attached. Ashes from the remains and the boot are now buried near a beautiful bronze bust commemorating “The Hero of Nacozari.” This fall, the town, now known as Nacozari de García, will hold its annual parade on November 7 in honor of their fallen hero. When someone stubs their toe and yells “Jesus,” they aren’t talking about Jesús García. A monument stands in Mexico’s capital in his honor.

Of course, some honor the memory of Jesus Christ as well. But many hate, despise or ignore Him or scream His name when they are angry and frustrated. Why? No doubt there are many reasons, but this one at least is fundamental: the “Lord” at the front of His full title. He’s not just a loving friend, but also someone with authority over us. Any supreme authority over us exposes the rebellion hidden inside our sinful nature. Remember when one of our parents or our teachers ordered us to do something that went against our personal wishes, hopes and “what made sense” at the time? Regardless of whether our temper flamed up outwardly or our resentment smoked inside, the response proved what kind of hearts we have — rebellious ones. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Another key reason for the hatred is tucked away in this wonderful statement from His Word. See if you can find it. “When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). No one in Nacozari had to admit they were helpless or ungodly to benefit from Jesús García’s courage. But to receive the benefit from Christ’s death on the cross, we must admit that we have disobeyed and sinned against a holy God. Unable to rescue ourselves, we depend completely on what Jesus Christ did in dying and shedding His blood to prepare a way where we could be saved from the judgment we deserve.

The beauty of God’s plan of salvation is that it requires nothing from us but receiving it. Jesús García acted with monumental courage — literally. However, he acted without prior plan for the good of ones he loved and with hope that he would escape death. He almost made it before suffering instant death. The Lord Jesus Christ with clear purpose acted this way. “When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son” (Romans 5:10). That death involved hardly-imaginable physical suffering on a cross and unimaginable suffering from God as punishment for sin He had not committed.

What really mattered for all those in Nacozari on November 7, 1907, wasn’t the local soccer match or the lunch menu — it was the courage and sacrifice of Jesús García. What really matters to you today isn’t your next raise or who wins the next World Cup — it’s how you respond to the love shown to you by Jesus Christ. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36). Will you honor the Son of God by believing and receiving what He says?

Find out more about what really matters in the next story, Finding Peace.

Finding Peace

n Enoree, South Carolina, during a choir practice, a baby at the gathering began crying. The choir director, who was the baby’s grandmother, took him and tried to comfort him, but to no avail. The baby was uneasy. Another woman said, “Give him to me.” She held him, but he continued to cry.

He was held by another woman, and he continued to cry. Eventually, his father stepped up and offered to hold him. As soon as he picked up the baby, he stopped crying and soon fell asleep.

“Interesting,” said the grandmother. “He found peace in the arms of his daddy.”

This little episode reminded me of the famous quote: “You made us for Yourself, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in You.” How true.

So often in life, people do all sorts of things to find peace. Many turn to drugs and alcohol, and others turn to money and fame. Some engage in New Age practices, and some try different religions, or they live an immoral lifestyle. Despite their best efforts, they still come up short and find themselves empty. They find there is a hole or void in their lives that cannot be filled by the things of this world. In all honesty, it is a hole that only God can fill.

The Bible tells us that real peace and lasting fulfillment come through Jesus Christ, the Son of God. “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Jesus came into the world and died for our sins. He arose from the grave and is alive to give us peace, the forgiveness of sins, and eternal life. He offers these blessings as a free gift because of His love for us. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Isn’t this wonderful news? God, the creator of the universe, loves us so much that He sent His Son into the world to free us from sin and guilt. He also came to free us from judgment, the penalty of sin, which is eternal separation from God. “God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:17-18).

Jesus invites us to come to Him. “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Are you in need of rest? Have you been searching for peace? Do you need the forgiveness of sins? Then come to Jesus today. Ask Him for forgiveness and the free gift of eternal life. He has promised that all who come to Him will be accepted. “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

Simply come as you are. Like the baby who found peace in the arms of his daddy, if you believe, you will find peace in the arms of your heavenly Father. Then you will have what really matters — not just now, but forever.

Find out about one thing that doesn’t satisfy in the next story, Sweet Ride.

Sweet Ride

Conor Delaney sells limited-production Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT’s with gull-wing doors, Bentleys and other exotic cars that might cost more than your house. In fact, the average price of the cars he sold last year ran a more-than-modest $150,000. Sweet rides indeed. His select group of celebrity clients spent over $16,000,000 with Delaney’s Celebrity Auto Group.

What’s more fascinating is that the average number of cars bought per year runs from two to twelve. That’s right. Some people don’t buy the 2014 model; they buy the January 2014 model, the February 2014 model, the March 2014 model ... And then they keep on doing the same thing year after year. These aren’t stock cars off the lot either; many have custom modifications like entertainment centers.

So what’s not to like about that? Well, a lot actually. But before we get to the obvious reason that’s probably staring you in the face, consider this: Most of these clients are desperate for privacy. Delaney says, “When they text me every few months to give me a new phone number, they know it’s safe.” Those celebrities can’t even hang on to a private cell number for more than a couple of months before they need to change it to run from the hoard of their pursuers. As Delaney says, “Privacy is huge for athletes.”

That reminds me of my former neighbor. He worked for a heating and air conditioning company that specialized in the homes of celebrities in the Chicago area where I live. When we dropped by his apartment, he launched into a flow of stories about local sports celebrities he’d met. But the story that stuck in my head was about the renowned basketball star, Michael Jordan.

Approaching Michael’s 56,000-square-foot home, he was stopped at a large security gate with its obligatory security cameras. Once down the drive and into the mansion, he got his work done. Then Michael invited him to play a game of pool and take a tour of the small private movie theater and other luxury features. He mentioned how Michael had to have his movies delivered to the house to avoid being mobbed at the local theater. He wore dark glasses and snuck into private rooms at the back of restaurants to find some semblance of peace. Incidentally, as of this writing, Michael can’t seem to sell that house. It’s been on the market for over two years and had many price cuts and a failed auction. It seems no one needs a home with a giant indoor basketball court, a cigar room and other trimmings.

There’s nothing wrong with a home or a car. But they don’t bring satisfaction, peace or even joy by themselves. If they did, then the celebrities buying sweet rides wouldn’t need to grab a new one every month, year after year. One thing they crave, the peace to enjoy what they do have, is denied them. Satisfaction, in fact all that really matters, can only be found in a person — Jesus Christ. “I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee” (Jeremiah 31:3). That love can be deep, intimate, lasting, personal and its uniqueness privately shared with the One who loves you more than you can conceive. Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour? If you don’t, read more of God’s way of salvation outlined in this booklet and in His Word and turn to Him now, not tomorrow.

Profit or Loss?

What will it profit, when life here is over,

Though great worldly wisdom I gain,

If, seeking knowledge, I utterly fail

The wisdom of God to obtain?

What will it profit, when life here is over,

Though gathering riches and fame,

If, gaining the world, I lose my own soul,

And in heaven unknown is my name?

What will it profit, when life here is over,

Though earth’s farthest corners I see,

If, going my way and doing my will,

I miss what His love planned for me?

What will it profit, when life here is over,

Though earth’s fleeting love has been mine,

If, seeking its gifts, I fail to secure

The riches of God’s love divine?

What will it profit? My soul, stop and think

What balance that day will declare!

Life’s record laid bare, will gain turn to loss

And leave me at last to despair?

Bobbie, the Wonder Dog

Bobbie, a collie dog, lived with the Brazier family in Silverton, Oregon, which was a small city near the Pacific Coast. The family decided to take a car trip across the U.S.A. in a Studebaker Touring Car. They loaded up the car, tying down some luggage between the trunk of the car and the back bumper. There was no room inside the car for their dog. That was no problem for Bobbie. He jumped on the top of the luggage and was ready to make the long trip. Back in the 1920s, the roads were not always paved and often the ride was bumpy, but Bobbie never bounced off his perch. Through foul weather and fair, the dog kept his balance. Day after day they traveled by wide rivers, over mountain passes that seemed to touch the sky, and then across the Great Plains in the blazing heat of late summer.

After travelling like this for 2,500 miles, the Braziers stopped to get gas and a bite to eat in a small Indiana town. It was their custom to let Bobbie run and get some exercise during short stops. As they were entering a restaurant, they saw a pack of local dogs chase Bobbie down the road. They weren’t worried about Bobbie, because he was an excellent runner. They just figured he would return to the car after the chase was over. However, Bobbie didn’t return. The Braziers searched for him for three days. Heartbroken, they continued without their dog.

A few weeks later on their return trip, they stopped in the same town where Bobbie had been lost and inquired about the dog. Unfortunately, no one was able to provide any information about their pet. They made the long trip home to Silverton without Bobbie.

The family gave up hope of ever seeing their dog again. One day, eleven-year-old Nova Brazier was walking down a muddy city street in Silverton when the girl saw a half-starved, weather-beaten dog walking with its head hung low. The dog looked more dead than alive. To her astonishment, something about the dog reminded her of Bobbie. When she called the dog’s name, it feebly trotted up to her with its stump of a tail wagging. The dog’s hair was matted and dirty, and he was nothing but skin and bones, but by the markings on its face she knew it was Bobbie.

Somehow the dog had managed to walk close to 2,500 miles from Indiana to Oregon. Bobbie became known as “Bobbie, the Wonder Dog,” and his remarkable story was carried in newspapers across the country. People speculated that Bobbie had backtracked along the same route the car had taken when it had traveled east. Various people who lived along the route sent in reports that they had fed and sheltered a dog for a night that had matched Bobbie’s description. A few hobos said they had shared some stew with him. Many people guessed that Bobbie hunted mice and small game on his journey home.

If Bobbie’s story is true, it might be the greatest journey a dog ever made. But if you choose not to believe it, I can understand why. I’m not certain I believe it either. I think it’s beyond the ability of any dog to make such an epic journey.

But Bobbie’s story reminds me of another story of a Man’s truly epic and wonderful journey. Although on this journey He did things that are naturally impossible for men to do, I believe the account of it with all my heart and hope you will too.

The journey this Man made began with His birth into the world. The boy had no natural father. Do you believe that possible? I do because it was prophesied hundreds of years earlier. “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). His birth was just the beginning of His remarkable journey through life.

His parents called Him Jesus, and He spent His youth in a small town called Nazareth in the backcountry of Israel. When He turned thirty years old, He started preaching, and His words astonished the world. They were full of life and truth, and they made His listeners feel the depths of God’s love in their hearts. The Lord Jesus also did many miracles to relieve the suffering and needy. “The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them” (Matthew 11:5). These miracles showed who He was. It takes supernatural power to perform miracles — power that comes directly from God and surpasses man’s natural ability. Do you believe He performed such miracles? I do. They might be impossible for men, but they are not to God.

After three and a half years of ministering to others, He was taken by cruel men, given a sham trial, and crucified. Nailed to the cross, it seemed like His journey had come to an abrupt end. But His story wasn’t finished: He was laid in a grave and three days later He came back to life. He was seen of many disciples, and on one occasion He ate fish and bits of honeycomb with them. One of His disciples, named Thomas, had the chance to put his finger into the spear wound in Jesus’ side.

Do you believe in the resurrection? I do. It shows, like nothing else could, the honor, love and high esteem that God the Father had for His beloved Son. The men and women who saw the Lord Jesus after His resurrection had nothing to gain by lying about it. In fact, telling the truth would cost many of them their lives.

In the last part of His journey, He was lifted up from this earth in a cloud and carried into heaven. In heaven, He took His seat on the right hand of God, His name being made higher than any other name in heaven or earth.

I think you would agree with me that the Lord Jesus made the most incredible journey through life that was ever made.

Now, whether or not you believe that Bobbie walked 2,500 miles to return home won’t make any lasting difference in your life. However, whether or not you believe in the journey the Lord Jesus made makes a tremendous difference. The salvation of every human being hangs on whether they believe it. “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Faith in Christ matters a great deal. It matters, because without faith in Christ, people who pass out of this world will enter into a lost eternity. “I said therefore unto you that ... if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24).

Will you believe the record that God gave of His Son that you might be saved? I believe it, and I hope you do too.

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

My Citizenship will show you how to take a journey to the best homeland possible.

My Citizenship

February 23, 2011 — what a day! I headed to downtown Worcester, Massachusetts, where I would be part of a citizenship ceremony. Did I forget my resident alien’s card? I don’t know how many times I checked to see if I’d brought this important, required document. Plus my other documents — my British passport, marriage certificate — would I need these too? After several unnecessary checks, I was relieved to see that I still had my alien’s card and several other documents I wouldn’t even need. I just wanted to be sure ...

As I sat in my vehicle parked in the gray cement parking garage, it came to mind that the most important citizenship was already mine. The moment I was saved, I became a citizen of heaven: “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19). I also knew that God would never be fumbling for papers! At the time of my salvation, my name was written in the Lamb’s book of life: “There shall in no wise enter into [heaven] anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:27). The matter of my eternal security and citizenship had been settled.

I accepted Christ at ten years of age while living on the island of Bermuda, my childhood home. I had wanted for so long to have this great gift and had tried so hard to get it. But no amount of being good or “acting saved” could help me. The night before I was saved, I repeated a sinner’s prayer and wanted to see a light or an angel ... ANYTHING to verify that I had passed from spiritual death unto life. Nothing happened.

The next day, as I thought about being saved, I remembered that the Bible tells us how Christ died and shed His blood on the cross for sinners, and that when He died, He had everyone in mind, even someone born many, many years after His death. He knew about ME and MY sins. I concluded that if His death wasn’t enough to save me, then I would be lost forever. I quit trying to be saved and trusted in His Word. Thank God, that was enough — based on the authority of God’s Word, which says, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” (John 3:36). I was saved! What joy! What peace!

I entered the foyer of the designated location for the ceremony to find it already teeming with people from other nations. Barring mishaps, we would all be declared citizens of the United States of America. We would be ceremoniously rewarded for successfully meeting all the citizenship requirements this government placed upon us. It meant being herded upstairs, stripped of our alien’s card and given informational packets. Then we were ushered into the main hall for the judge’s speech, our oath and the final pronouncement that we were U.S. citizens, at last.

Walking back to the parking lot, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in a storefront window. Did I look the same? I was so thrilled it seemed as if my countenance shone with a special glow.

I smile when I think about it now, because someday I will shine with Christ’s likeness. Then I’ll meet the righteous Judge who will reward all those who have trusted in Christ, the One who died to set me free. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). He gives me the courage to live for Him. One day I’ll gather with the redeemed from all nations, and we’ll sing a new heavenly song in our heavenly home. What a day of rejoicing that will be!

I hope you too will come to know Him. Make sure you have what it takes to be a citizen of heaven. It is all found in Christ Jesus who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

In Are You Headed the Wrong Way? you’ll get expert directions to make certain you’re really on the way to a home in heaven.

Are You Headed the Wrong Way?

Four children and four adults died in an accident because of a minivan that traveled in the wrong direction. The minivan collided with two cars as it traveled southbound in the northbound lanes of the Taconic State Parkway near New York City. After striking an SUV, the minivan flew into another vehicle before it rolled down an embankment and burst into flames.

Those who died included the driver of the minivan, four of the five children inside, and three men who were inside the SUV. The AP reported: “It was the second wrong-way crash on the Parkway on Sunday.”

This tragic story is a strong reminder of our need to be alert and safe when driving a vehicle. It also is an illustration of a Bible message that addresses our relationship with God. According to the Bible, “there is a way which [seems] right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).

All too often, people choose a path in their search for God and find out too late they have chosen the wrong path. Some people believe that all roads lead to heaven and that all religions offer a way to God. Some believe that sincerity is enough. Others believe that we can find God through good deeds, a moral life, or intellectual enlightenment. Still others believe there is no God and that science or philosophy is all we need to find meaning and fulfillment in life.

People who hold these views may be sincere, but they are traveling the wrong road. They’re going the wrong way.

When it comes to knowing God and having a personal relationship with Him, choosing the correct route is very important. Going the wrong way on a highway can result in tragedy, but going the wrong way in the search for God can result in something far worse.

Without God we are lost. And if we continue on the wrong path, we will not find Him. This means we will remain in our sins, which require God’s judgment.

The Bible says we are all sinners. As such, we’ve all traveled the wrong path. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). It also states, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). But that isn’t all. The Bible says that the people who do not know God “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

The fact is, there is a God, and there’s only one way we can know Him. There’s only one way we can be saved from sin and have peace with Him. That way is Jesus, the Son of God. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).

Because of God’s love for us, He has made it possible for us to know Him personally and to be saved from our sins. He promises forgiveness and eternal life to all who put their faith in Him. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Jesus died on Calvary’s cross and was buried. He arose from the dead three days later. He “was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:25).

You have a decision to make. Will you go the wrong way? Or will you accept the only way that God has provided?

Untold Treasure by the Door

For years, Little Meadow Creek played the same soothing sounds. Chattering over the rocks and then under the bridge, it disappeared into the woods. Many times, many folk strolled past here going into town.

Young Conrad Reed usually sauntered by, greeting the creek as an old friend. But this day he stopped and looked into the water. Dad needed a doorstop and he would take home a heavy rock.

He saw one. It was just the right size to hold his weathered door ajar on the hot August afternoons in North Carolina. It did seem heavy for its size.

Three years later, the boy’s father, farmer John, took the rock to a jeweller who promptly paid less than a week’s wages for it — less than four dollars in 1803. The doorstop was actually a 17-pound gold nugget and was sold again for 1000 times more. Of course, discoveries and excitement grew, and by 1832, more than 50 mines were operating in the state, employing 25,000 people.

Yet, the biggest lump of gold ever found east of the Rocky Mountains had sat unrecognized and undervalued for three years at farmer John’s door. But in all those years its real value never changed. While the gentle creek quietly washed its rough but priceless features or while it sat daily by the door, its real and intrinsic worth was the same. It was merely unrecognized.

Could it be that the waters of time have slipped through your fingers and that you have missed the great treasure of God’s salvation that’s still within reach?

Years ago the Lord Jesus asked His disciples, “Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?” (Matthew 16:13). They answered, “Some say that Thou art John the Baptist” (Matthew 16:14).

But Jesus asked again, “But whom say ye that I am?” (Matthew 16:15). They quickly answered, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). They knew “Treasure” when they saw it!

Today some see Him as a Galilean peasant, merely a carpenter. Some see a wise and good prophet and stop to hear a few words. Some see a good man and get nothing more from Him than the example of His life.

What is He worth to you? His real and intrinsic value has never changed. Many people, living in many other centuries, have appreciated Him. His words have stirred many minds and changed lives. Sick people confined to bed, young people confined to jail, retirees passing the time on a golf course, businessmen pursuing one more dollar — all these have had encounters with the living Son of God. He has brought the joy of forgiveness and the comfort of the peace of God into the center of their changed lives.

Jesus spoke about “true riches” and told of God’s love for the unlovable, of God’s forgiveness that was offered to the contrite soul. Give His story a read. He has sat at your door unvalued for too long.

And please notice, you won’t have to change your life. As you already know, you can’t! Thankfully, that’s His part — He does that. You just have to value Him, receive Him. Then He brings you into His family.

The Bible says, “To as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God” (John 1:12).

You’ll find out about Walter’s Wasted Secret Stash in the next story. You may find you have a hidden secret of your own.

Wasted Secret Stash

The brown patches on the lawn spread slowly until they began to engulf the unpretentious 1,200-square-foot ranch home in a quiet neighborhood in Carson City, Nevada. Apparently no one cared for the house anymore, no one really knew the owner, and now some were reporting a stench coming from the house. Authorities called in to do a “well check” and found Walter Samaszko Jr. dead.

The county coroner said he’d died with heart problems about a month before but no one had noticed, no one called, no one knew and no one cared. Walter was 69, unmarried, no siblings, his father had died suddenly in an industrial accident 45 years before and his mother had been gone for 20 years. His mailman hadn’t seen him, the neighbors never got into conversations with him and rarely made sightings. He left no will. County officials were going to have a really hard time finding a living relative — one who was in for a huge shock. When Carson County finally contacted her, she ended up, in the words of one official, “so frazzled and so harassed.”

Cleaning crews came to work the home over and get it ready to go up for sale. Nothing spectacular there. The carpeting was vintage 70s orange shag, more landfill than landmark quality. The green tile wasn’t going to make the cover of Good Housekeeping, especially since the whole thing wasn’t dusted or vacuumed. The guts of electronic gadgets had been spilled out and picked over but never quite put back together. Maybe that was Walter’s other hobby. He had a second hobby squirreled away in the garage.

Cleaning crews got out to the garage eventually. There sat a fine 1968 Ford Mustang — undriven. Walter bought it the year before his dad’s death and left it in his garage. I suppose a car buff house cleaner would have been impressed, but its value at auction was a mere $17,000. Stacked in a corner were old ammunition boxes. These great big ten-cubic-foot metal boxes were labeled “books.”

In Untold Treasure by the Door you read about John’s unrecognized 17-pound gold nugget door stop. But Walter knew exactly what he kept in his supposed “book” boxes. He had exquisite records showing where each of the items had come from. He had more than what was in the garage, too, hidden away in the crawl space and in a decrepit washing machine.

In God’s Word, the Bible, there’s a parable about a man that most people would think of as much smarter than Walter Samaszko Jr. You’ll see what I mean in a minute, but first the parable from the Bible. “The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: and he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:16-21). This wealthy farmer planned ahead for his retirement. He struck it rich and planned to live it up. He’d carefully store his windfall and then have a wonderful time partying without the pressure of his business. His problem? He left God out of his praise and his plans. He gave himself the credit for his success and lived without concern for others or, more importantly, for God. God doesn’t condemn wealth, but He wants us to remember that it comes from Him. He wants us to know it only has value for a limited time because death is the beginning of eternity and not the end of existence. He wants us to discover that all true gifts are from Him — both for this life and beyond.

Inside Walter Samaszko’s boxes was a twist worthy of Charles Dickens himself — gold coins, thousands of them. There were 2,900 from Austria, thousands more from Mexico, old U.S. gold pieces dating to the 1800s, gold bullion and silver coins. There were even rolls of gold coins stuck between silverware settings. Alan Glover, in charge of the case, had to go to a neighbor and borrow a wheelbarrow to start hauling out all the gold. Between all the gold bullion and rare coins sold at two different auctions, there was about $7,000,000 of gold and silver stashed in the modest little home. What did Walter do with it? Who knows, but he sure didn’t spend it. He withdrew about $500 from his bank account every month, he paid his bills and that’s about all we know.

The gold didn’t appear to have done Walter or anyone else any good. Working from a 45-year-old funeral program, investigators located one surviving relative, Arlene Magdanz. She was working in California as a substitute teacher. Besieged by the media, frazzled by all the attention, she left her apartment and went into hiding. After the government takes their estate taxes, she will receive about $6,000,000. Hopefully Arlene will put the bonanza to good use.

In reality, you have been offered a far greater treasure. In the Bible it says that you “were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold ... but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19). Unlike the fool who focused in on treasure and pleasure, you, right now, have the opportunity to learn more about Christ and the precious blood He shed so that sinners like you and me could be saved. Redeemed means to be bought back and set free. At least once in our lives you and I have been dishonest, ungrateful, angry or self-centered. All of these are considered sin that God won’t permit in His home in heaven. God’s Word clearly states that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). That means to be separated forever from God and all that is good.

But unlike Walter who hoarded his secret treasures in old ammo boxes, God gave what was most precious to Him so that your sins could be properly paid for. Jesus Christ came and suffered a cruel death on a cross. While on that cross He was punished by God for sin. God tells us why He did it: “He hath made [Jesus Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Arlene Magdanz was shocked and harassed by all the attention surrounding her vast inheritance. I suppose she might have refused it, but that’s pretty doubtful. God quietly, without fanfare, right this minute is offering you an unimaginably huge, untaxable gift. He says “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Will you turn it down? Do you foolishly think all you need is to be a “good person” in this life and everything will take care of itself for the future? Do you live, as Walter seemed to, as though there is no future? God clearly says, “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Will God’s gift, far more precious than gold, do you any good?

Find out about another of God’s wonderful gifts in The Unappreciated Treasure.

The Unappreciated Treasure

Around it went again, from hand to hand. Each person took what food they wanted. The pink porcelain plate migrated around the table at the Carlisle’s home week after week for who-knows-how-many times.

The plate was strikingly pretty, with a central medallion of flowers and decorated with other blossoms. Thankfully nobody ever dropped it as it circled the table. The plate is worth millions!

Of course, the Carlisles would never have revealed that secret. Not because they were modest, but because they had no clue what it was worth.

You see, it was a hand-me-down that Grandma brought back from China on one of her trips. Although the secret “treasure” passed under the noses of children and grandchildren for a century, nobody suspected its value until an art expert saw it and had it appraised.

Surprise! Your fourteenth century Ming dynasty plate is worth maybe $2,000,000 ... maybe more. At the auction, in 2004, the British art dealer handed over $6,000,000 for it. The plate doesn’t get passed around the table anymore.

It is interesting to find a story like this about a treasure that simply sat under the undiscerning eyes of unsuspecting people. It does happen.

A similar story could be told about the Bible. It is that unappreciated kind of treasure. Somebody has said, “It gives help for the soul, harmony for the life, happiness for the heart and hope for the future.” Could you put a price on those treasures? “How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!” (Proverbs 16:16).

And maybe that holy Book is sitting unopened not far from you under papers and junk. Dust it off; give it a read. Start in the Gospel of Mark. That part was written for beginners. It will acquaint you with the coming of Jesus Christ and His wonderful actions. Enjoy.

It is a treasury — of stories, truth and reassurance.

It is indestructible — it has withstood the calculated assaults of cynics.

It is truthful — it comes from a God who cannot lie.

It is living — read Mark 1; see what I mean.

Don’t understand it? Read it again, just as you would an exam question or a recipe. And really, you don’t have to understand everything to get the drift. You can get that easily enough without all the details. If you don’t understand it, pray that God will help you to understand. It is His book, and He Himself can help you get out of it the most wonderful treasure you will ever have.

Let its words challenge your prejudices, opinions and superstitions. Through it you can get to know the Author who gave us this treasure that has been, for too long, resting “just under your nose.”

He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).

There Is Nothing Left for You to Do

Many years ago Nicholas was raised in religion, but he was notorious for his pursuit of pleasure. However, like you and me, he had both a memory and a conscience.

Nicholas began to remember the many wicked things he had done and the warnings he had received. His conscience convicted him. He thought, “It may be true that there is an eternal punishment for sinners!” He had heard of the “lake of fire” and thought, “If anyone is ever likely to be there, it is myself — for I have never seen or heard of anyone who has sinned as I have done.”

His sins lost their pleasure. The horrors of hell haunted him — he longed for deliverance from his past, from his guilt — from himself! He despaired of ever discovering a way for sinners to be saved. He feared that a long life of penance and a thousand years in purgatory would not be enough to find the favor of a holy God. What could he do?

He had heard of a monastery whose rules and restrictions were the most severe of any, and he decided to go there to seek his soul’s salvation, if possible. He would become a monk and endure all of the harsh discipline demanded, if only he could be sure of pardon.

That monastery was about 1,500 miles from his home, and he walked the whole way because he thought that the long, hot journey might count as a part of his penance. Finally, faint and fearful, he reached the old building and rang the bell. An old monk slowly opened the door.

“What do you want?” asked the aged monk.

“I want to be saved,” replied Nicholas.

“Tell me what you mean,” said the old man.

Nicholas answered, “I have been a far greater sinner than anyone I ever heard of. I do not think it is possible that I can be saved. But I am willing to do whatever may be done, if only I may have a faint hope of escaping eternal punishment. If it must be by spending all of the rest of my life in penance, the harder it is, the more I shall be thankful. Only tell me what to do, and I will gladly do it.”

A Surprising Answer

“If you are ready to do what I tell you,” replied the old monk, “you will go back to Germany. There was One down here who has done the whole work in your place before you came — and He has finished it. He did it instead of you, so there is nothing left for you to do! It is all done.”

“Who has done it?” asked a stunned Nicholas.

“Did you never hear of the Lord Jesus Christ?” replied the old man.

“Yes, of course I have heard of Him.”

“Do you know where He is?” enquired the old man.

“Yes, of course I know. He is in heaven.”

“But tell me,” said the old man, “do you know why He is in heaven?”

“No, except that He is always in heaven.”

“He was not always in heaven,” replied the old man. “He came down here to do the work you want to do yourself. He came down here to bear the punishment of your sin. He is in heaven now because the work is done. If it were not so, He would still be here. He came down to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself!

“Do you not know what He said on the cross? ‘It is finished.’ What was finished? The work you want to begin! And now, if you want to do something worse than all you have ever done — you may cast contempt on the blessed and perfect work of the Son of God by trying to do what only He could do and has finished. It would be as if you said, ‘Christ has not done enough. I must add to the work which He has declared is finished.’

“I stay here where Christ is insulted because I am old and can only walk to the gate. But you can go, and I urge you to go back to your friends and to tell them what the Lord has done for you.”

Said Nicholas, “I stayed three days, and the old man told me much more of the work of the Lord Jesus — not only what His death had done for me, but also how He had risen again to give me eternal life and how He had won a place for me in heaven, above the angels, where He is waiting for me and for all who believe in Him. Now I tell any who will listen the wonderful news of the perfect work of Christ.”

“Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

“Now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Hebrews 9:26).

Friend, do you rest in Christ and in His work?

If you still think that you can help God out in doing the work He says is finished, you will benefit from reading Restored.

Restored

It was supposed to be the romantic, gentle portrait of Jesus Christ. The original artist, Elias Garcia Martinez, was talented and his delicate brush strokes on the fresh plaster about 100 years ago had left a locally famous fresco painting in Borja, Spain. But images, especially ones created on plaster in humid climates, have a way of cracking, chipping, peeling and decaying.

His granddaughter, Teresa Garcia, noticed and got to work. She raised enough money to get the restoration rolling. Expert art restorers would be called in, the work would be lovingly restored, and Elias Garcia Martinez’s genius would be freshly admired.

But 85-year-old Cecilia Giménez didn’t know anything about the plans for restoration and she had her own paints and a paintbrush. Why, she’d even done some lovely little paintings of her own on canvas. It was even pretty clear to her that the old fresco needed some fixing. So with all good intentions, she set to work. On came the thick globs of paint. First the fading tunic disappeared under the heavy layers. Next came the touch-up of the delicate brush work of the face. Tourists are now arriving by the thousands in the sleepy town of Borja to chuckle, groan and marvel. The result has to be seen to be believed. A quick Internet search would show you what she came up with.

You and I were created by God. As it says in Genesis 1:27, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.” This isn’t talking about having the properly-shaped mouth and a certain arch to the eyebrow. God created us to be like Him in love and holiness. God never lashes out in irritation, shades the truth to look a bit better or helps Himself to someone else’s things. But we do. Constantly. We aren’t like a tattered portrait of the one true God; there’s not a whole lot of the original left, if we’re completely honest.

Many people realize what’s happened and want to “fix up the situation.” Some “go to church.” Others “get spiritual.” Just about everybody figures they should swear a bit less and maybe “pay it forward” with random acts of kindness. When they’re done with their restoration, they say, like Cecilia Giménez did, “We fixed it.” But any objective third party would beg to differ. In fact, the true expert, God Himself, has already said about any efforts we might have made, “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).

However, like Teresa Garcia, He’s already paid the full amount necessary to change us into being perfectly morally beautiful. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). I suppose Cecilia Giménez was completely clueless about her lack of fine art talent. In fact, when the reaction to her work poured in, she began to have “panic attacks.” I’m sure not everyone complimented her skills. But God isn’t like that. He is lovingly letting you know what He’s done to put away the mess of sin in your life and make you like Himself. However, anything short of letting Him do all the work of restoration won’t be accepted. He doesn’t ask us to add to, touch up, or assist Him in any way. He doesn’t want our supposed good works. Instead He says, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Will you do that today?

God’s work of restoration wasn’t a pleasant paint job. It required the supreme sacrifice to pay for the sins we have committed. You’ll get a sense of that in Rock Slide.

Rock Slide

One autumn day, a dad was taking his family hiking in the Colorado Rockies along a popular trail to view a waterfall. They were walking along at the base of a steep mountain when a solid rock face high above them abruptly and unexpectedly splintered into rocks and boulders forming a huge rock slide. The man had just enough time to make a painful decision. He used his body as a shield to protect his thirteen-year-old daughter. Tragically, the falling rocks claimed the lives of the man, his wife, an older daughter and two other members of his extended family. The thirteen-year-old girl survived because of the brave and selfless action of her dad.

Do you know that nearly 2000 years ago a man voluntarily gave his life to shield you from death? His name is the Lord Jesus Christ, and He died on Calvary’s cross so that sinners who place their faith in Him might escape the eternal death their sins deserve. “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3).

The man in the rock slide could only use his body to shield one member of his family. However, the death of the Lord Jesus has the power to shield every member of the human race from the judgment their sins deserve. He has this power because of the supreme excellence of His person. He was God come in the flesh, so that He was both man and God in the same person. Although He lived among sinful men, He lived a life of pureness and unblemished righteousness. Of all the men who ever lived, He is the only One who never sinned. As a man He could suffer and die. As God His death has limitless power to put sins away forever. “Now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Hebrews 9:26).

Sin needs to be put away because judgment is certain to fall on all those who continue on in their sinful ways. The final judgment will take place when impenitent sinners are cast out of God’s presence forever to spend eternity in the darkness and fiery atmosphere of hell. Before that judgment falls, won’t you turn from your sin and take the Lord Jesus as your Saviour? You can’t by good works ever deserve God’s forgiveness, but God is willing to forgive you on the behalf of what His Son has done the moment you truly believe in Him. Those who trust in His name will be shielded from the eternal death their sins deserve. There is no other way to escape the judgment to come.

Life, as the story of the rock slide illustrates, is uncertain at best. Not one of us can be sure that we will be given one more day to live. Since we can’t be sure we will be here “tomorrow,” we ought to think on serious things while it is “today.” “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). This verse tells us not to delay the all-important decision to trust Christ. Won’t you make today the day of your salvation and trust in the Saviour right now? Only through faith in Christ can sinners ever be shielded from the judgment their sins deserve.

“Every word of God is pure: He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him” (Proverbs 30:5).

The Door to Hell

Contrary to popular belief, there is a door to hell.

Turkmenistan is a flat, very arid country in Central Asia. In the 1970s an oil rig to drill petroleum was set up not far from the village of Derweze. After a couple of months of drilling, quite unexpectedly a giant sinkhole opened up beneath the oil rig. The oil rig disappeared completely into the earth and all that could be seen was a round shaped divot 50 feet deep, 100 feet wide and 200 feet long.

Fortunately, no human life was lost in the incident. However, a large volume of methane gas began escaping from the sinkhole and entering into the atmosphere. Concerned about the health of nearby villagers, engineers figured they could get rid of the natural gas by burning it away. The gas was ignited, and red and orange flames leaped up towards the sky. The sides of the hole from which the gas was emanating glowed bright red. Forty years later the pit is still burning as fiercely as the day it was ignited. It turned out that what engineers thought was a small pocket of natural gas was an almost limitless supply.

Locals began to call the site “The Door to Hell.” Hardy tourists even began to travel to see it. Some walk up to the edge and look over the side to peer into the glowing pit. That is a foolhardy thing to do because if the ground, which looks none too stable, gave way at the edge and a person fell into the pit, there would be no getting out.

Although that burning site, with its smoke and fire and the zero probability of escape if fallen into, is an appropriate picture of hell, it is not the real thing. The real thing is even more dreadful. It is the place where souls who have never come to repentance and faith in God will go when they die. “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17).

The real door to hell is simply the death of a sinner. Death is the door through which sinners will pass into a lost eternity. There is a door to hell, and sadly because life is so short and uncertain it is not far from any who are living without a saving faith in God. Once a sinner passes through that door, there will be no escaping the eternal punishment of hell.

The time to escape is in this life. This is done by turning to God through Jesus Christ, God’s Son. God has given us this very moment to make the all-important decision to trust Christ. “I am the door,” the Lord Jesus said. “By Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9).

The Lord Jesus went to the cross and offered up His life as a sacrifice for the sin of the world. “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Because of what He did at Calvary’s cross, all who now trust Him receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. It is by faith that we pass through Christ the door and find salvation for our souls.

There is a real door to hell, and it is not in Turkmenistan. It is at the terminal, or end, of every person’s life that never comes to love and know God through Jesus Christ. Wouldn’t you rather pass, by faith, through Christ the door into eternal life and joy forever?

There’s another unpopular and unseen reality that you need to know about, and it is presented in Beware!

Beware!

This is no Lake Michigan! I breathed as I pulled up to my timeshare on the Atlantic Ocean. I’d grown used to the calmness of the lake, but this was alive — wild and churning.

That first night was eerie — 35-plus mile-per-hour winds howled under my door as if someone wanted in. Morning wasn’t any different. As soon as I opened my eyes, I threw open the sliding glass door to study the ocean, desperately wanting to go in.

But I wasn’t stupid. Red flags flew, indicating the ocean was not safe. No lifeguards manned their posts; no humans dotted the ocean. The beach seemed like a ghost town, with meringue-like tufts of ocean foam blowing about like tumbleweed. Signs posted along the beach warned of rip currents, and while there was no mention of it, I knew sharks hunted those waters.

Other than one evening when I spotted a couple of swimmers and quickly pulled on my suit and joined them in a wonderful salty thrashing, I safely enjoyed the ocean from its edge. I wonder-walked along it each day, biked along its surf, and slept with the sliding glass door open so I could fall asleep to its steady pounding.

Then at SeaWorld that Saturday, I learned something surprising. Only five humans die worldwide each year from sharks. Why was I so cautious then? And ... do I take my real enemy, Satan, as seriously as I took the potential danger of riptides and sharks?

Do you know who your enemy is? Do you have a healthy fear of him as I had of the ocean? Satan is one of your greatest enemies. I realize most people laugh at the idea that he even exists. Maybe they sport a pair of red horns and a tail for Halloween, but they certainly don’t take him seriously. I hope you do.

When God created Satan, he was one of God’s most beautiful angels. Outwardly, that is. Inwardly, he became far from content to worship and serve and enjoy God; he wanted to be God. So he schemed a revolt: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. ... I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:13–14).

His rebellion against God’s authority didn’t go exactly as planned. Instead of kicking God off His throne, Satan was kicked out of heaven (Luke 10:18). And when he fell to earth, he brought his rebellion against God with him.

Open any Bible, turn just a few pages, and there he is, inviting the first woman who ever lived to join his rebellion against God. Oh, he didn’t put it in those words! He’s too crafty for that. He went about the whole ugly ordeal by doing what he does best: deceiving and tempting. Just as he’d experienced a great fall from heaven, he coaxed and pulled off the great “fall” of mankind.

While Satan played a crucial role in man’s fall, God played an even more crucial role in man’s rescue. In Genesis 3, as God is cursing Satan for his role in this rebellion, He offers this hope-filled hint of what’s to come: “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).

And that’s just how it happened. Satan bruised Jesus’ heel when Jesus suffered and died on the cross. It looked like a victory for Satan, but not for long. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus crushed Satan’s head.

For now, Satan is busy making the most of his short-lived freedom. As “the god of this world,” he’s busy blinding the minds of unbelievers to keep “the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God” from shining “unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Pray that if Satan has blinded your eyes and deceived you, God would give you sight and transfer you from Satan’s kingdom of darkness to Jesus’ kingdom of light (Colossians 1:13).

Being warned about Satan and about hell won’t do anyone any good if they don’t act on the warning. The Best Advice You Will Ever Receive reminds us of how we ought to respond to faithful warnings.

The Best Advice You Will Ever Receive

The year 2013 was an exceptionally bad year for tornadoes in the central United States. In mid May, giant storm systems spawned tornadoes that left paths of destruction wherever they touched down. Images of the large-scale desolation caused by these tornadoes and the human tragedy that followed filled the air waves. It is no wonder that, when a tornado was sighted outside a small town in Indiana, a local radio announcer made an impassioned plea: “A tornado has been sighted. Seek shelter at once! This is the best advice you will ever receive today! I repeat — seek shelter at once!”

The approaching tornado, in this case, disappeared as swiftly as it had formed and completely missed the town. However, the announcer did his duty and gave them warning.

The Bible warns us about an approaching storm of judgment. Unless souls repent and turn to Christ, the storm of judgment will surely find them. “Behold, all souls are Mine. ... The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). To die in this verse means that when they pass out of this world, they will be swept into the everlasting destructions of hell. “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

If there ever was a message that needed to be delivered in an impassioned way, it is the message that souls need to forsake their sins and return to God by faith.

Shelter from this impending storm is not to be found in good works, religion or reformation of character. None of these things are strong enough to stand against it.

The shelter is not to be found in a place or a thing, but in a living Person. The Lord Jesus, as the pure, sinless Lamb of God, voluntarily went to the cross and paid the price for our sins. “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). The storm that should have broken over us and sunk us to the lowest hell for our misdeeds instead broke over Him. Hear His anguished cry: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me” (Matthew 27:46).

He paid the ultimate penalty for sin, which is death, but death couldn’t keep Him in the ground. Three days after He was buried, He arose from the grave. He is alive now, and He is the living Person that all others must come to, so that they may live through Him.

The best advice a sinner will ever receive is to come to the Lord Jesus by faith that they might live! I hope you take it to heart!

I Love the Bible

“We have not followed cunningly devised fables” (2 Peter 1:16).

Some tell me that the Bible

Is not God’s sacred Word,

And brand as cunning fables

The records of the Lord;

That Moses is a fiction,

And prophets never spake;

And e’en the blessed gospels

As myths I should forsake.

There was a time I listened

To these old serpent’s lies,

My foolish heart sore tempted

The Bible to despise;

Its holiness rebuked me;

Its precepts crossed my will;

I wished to silence conscience,

And thus my lusts fulfill.

I cared not for the Saviour;

This present world I loved;

Its lusts and wealth and glory

Alone my passions moved;

I cared not for a heaven;

I hoped there were no hell;

I wished for no hereafter;

I loved my sins too well.

The serpent’s crafty teachings,

The heart’s deceptive lies,

The skeptic’s subtle reasonings,

All vanished from mine eyes:

Naked and lost and guilty

Beneath God’s searching eye —

Eternity before me —

Oh, whither could I fly?

I love the blessed Bible;

I know it all is true;

It is a faithful mirror

In which myself I view:

It shows me all my weakness,

My folly and my shame;

But makes thereby more precious

My Saviour’s grace and name.

His name, like sweetest music,

Falls ever on mine ear;

I go to it, expecting

My Saviour’s voice to hear:

A monument of mercy!

Oh, may my life proclaim

The truth of God’s salvation,

The glory of His name!

The Day of the Miracle

There is an entry in my logbook dated June 13, 1949. This was the first day of the rest of my life — it was the day of the miracle, when I passed through the valley of the shadow of death! But the “remarks” column gives only a hint of what actually happened: It says, “Close call with Power Lines.”

I had turned my World War II military flying into a career as a crop duster with a war surplus Stearman biplane, a bank loan, and best wishes from my worried wife. This was now my second year of aerial spraying, and I was beginning to really enjoy it.

The day began like most other June days ... clear, calm and cool — ideal spraying weather. I was airborne in the predawn darkness and headed west over the Columbia River, passing slightly north of the sleepy lights of Portland. It was bitter cold when I leveled off at an altitude of 1,000 feet.

There’s an almost indescribable feeling of freedom when flying an open cockpit plane in the murky darkness that precedes the dawn. It makes you forget the cold and biting prop blast that digs its icy fingers under your goggles and makes your eyes run wet. You begin to feel a pulsing throb — your own heartbeat surging in rhythm with the throaty roar of the 450-horsepower engine in front of you, steady and powerful. It leads you into a semi-hypnotic trance that sends your spirit soaring heavenward. The universe is yours — the horizon is boundless — and the joy of it all is pure exultation! It’s almost sacrilegious to put it in words — they are so inadequate for describing the exhilaration.

But reality and the biting cold bring my thoughts earthward again. No more reverie now! Every nerve alert and ready. Eyes swivelling — back and forth — relying on my peripheral vision to probe the shadows above the trees. A firm, but light grip on the control stick, and feet planted lightly on the rudder pedals — everything under control.

Don’t let it hypnotize you, I remind myself. Take it in short, quick looks — eyes front, back, then front again. Keep your head on a swivel, and make shallow turns — the trees are too close to let you dip a wing very far. Let her skid!

A few minutes of this and the sky begins paling into sunrise. “Hmm, should be running out of goop any second now.” A small bridge flashes past beneath me — the edge of the control area. But I continue the run, glancing back more often to see the instant the spray stops.

And that’s when it happens! In the middle of a shallow turn my eyes sweep forward. I hit the throttle as I start to level off and climb. Something flickers at the corner of my eye, up there on the right. A quick flash of sunlight strikes the bright aluminum cables of the Bonneville power line. Swiftly my glance follows them down, right into the treetops in front of me, and in that split second I’m into them! No time to pull up over the top ... no room to go under ... I have to fly between them! Nine cables — three rows of three, each cable an inch and a half thick, and the middle row lies dead ahead of the plane. In that fractured second separating life from death, my reactions (if they actually were mine) are only automatic reflexes.

I barely have time to level the wings and head for the open space between the top and middle rows. I’m suddenly detached from reality and someone else has control of the plane. It’s as though I’m looking over my own shoulder from behind, and the huddled, paralyzed figure in the cockpit is not me. A wordless prayer engulfs me. My eyes stare in frozen fascination as those huge cables zap, zap, zap over me. Then I awake to the realization that the engine’s throaty roar is still full and strong and steady. There’s no explosion — no lightning bolts, no pieces falling apart. The stick is still in my hands. I’m still alive! I look back in disbelief. All nine cables are still there, stretching from tower to tower ... motionless and unbroken!

I pull up into a long climbing turn, out of the valley and into the full light of sunrise. And what a glorious sunrise! With a prayer of thanks on my trembling lips, I grab huge gulps of fresh air, turn the plane toward the airport, and try to keep my quivering feet on the rudder pedals. I’m still saying, “Thank You, God!” when I land five minutes later and roll to a stop near the hangars. I feel like jelly — bathed in icy sweat. I peel off my helmet and goggles and step out on the wing. My legs fold up like rubber bands, and I sprawl flat on the wet grass, shivering.

I lay there for a long, long time.

Several nagging questions troubled me. How far apart were those cables? How much clearance was there above and below the plane? Why didn’t the diesel fumes in the spray tank explode? I finally got some of the answers from a friend who had worked for the Bonneville Power Administration. He checked the archives and found the engineer’s drawings showing a vertical gap of nearly 18 feet between each layer of cables. The Stearman in level flight measures close to 12 feet from top to bottom. That gave me three feet of clearance both above and below the plane.

All of this lay quietly in my memory for 25 years. I was content to let it rest as a minor miracle, giving God 90 percent of the credit, with the other 10 percent going to my first flight instructor who drilled into me the “swivel neck” habit by saying, “A stiff neck is the first sign of rigor mortis.” If my head hadn’t been turning at that precise instant, I’d never have caught that flicker of reflected sunlight — that fraction of a second’s warning that enabled me to pull up and level the wings in time to go between the cables.

But one day I finished telling a friend about my miracle flight and he slowly shook his head. He was an electrical engineer for Bonneville and thoroughly familiar with power transmission. “No way, man! Even if you didn’t actually touch those cables, there’s no way you could come that close to them with a metal frame airplane and not turn into a fireball. That much voltage will arc across almost six feet! One set of cables, with lots of luck, maybe. But three sets of cables? Impossible!”

Then he took pencil and paper and drew a rectangle of four dots with a biplane centered between them. “Here you are,” he said, “almost touching four cables at the same time. Why, that’s about double the voltage!” The thought of what that much electricity is capable of doing stunned him into silence for a moment. Then he went on: “The only way you could have been that close and not be burned to a crisp would be if ... Say, can you give me the exact day and time? I know this guy who works where the archives are kept. He might check the records on that line and see if ... ”

So I dig out the logbook for that year and give him the figures — June 13, 1949, at 5:05 a.m. Later his friend comes back — that section of line was shut down that morning to fix a faulty relay. The repair was completed and power restored — at 5:15 a.m.!

But for me there was another source of power at that exact moment — a constant and uninterrupted source far, far greater than anything Bonneville produces! It was that power that led me safely out of the valley of the shadow of death! God says about the angels, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14). While God may not have used angels to preserve my life, this Bible verse shows His intense care and love for each person who will believe on Him. It was His mercy, not my cleverness, that spared my life.

If you’ve ever been given a kind hug, a tender kiss, an amazing sunrise, the view of a beautiful flower or a pleasant “thank you,” then you’ve experienced a touch of God’s goodness expressed in His creation. Have you said, “Thank You, God”? Do you know Jesus Christ as your Saviour from sin as well as your Creator? Not turning to Him is a serious thing. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).

God shows tremendous care for His creatures in this life, but He has even more planned for them. Find out more of His plan of salvation in Are You Related to Royalty?

Are You Related to Royalty?

Are you related to royalty from the distant past?

Dr. Chang, a mathematician from Yale University, would say the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor that, yes, you are related to some kings and queens of old.

Here is how he figures it. Let’s use Charlemagne, a king who ruled over the large part of Europe 1200 years ago, as an example. If a generation is 30 years long, then Charlemagne lived approximately 40 generations ago.

Every time you go back a generation, the number of direct ancestors doubles. For instance, you have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents and so forth. If you carried this pattern out to the fortieth generation, you would get an almost unbelievably large number of over one trillion! This number would be far larger than all the people alive in Europe at the time. So Dr. Chang concludes that it’s highly likely that every person living today is related to some ancient royalty.

Do you feel like the child of a king after reading this? Probably not. At least you wouldn’t be able to go into some museum and ask for your share of the family jewels.

But there’s another possible relationship that can make you incredibly rich. You may establish the genuineness of this beyond any shadow of doubt, and its authenticity will be upheld in the highest court. Once established, you may start enjoying the benefits immediately. Those in this relationship are assured of an inheritance of enduring wealth, which will make them incredibly happy.

It has to do with the greatest Being of the universe. He’s a Being so tremendously high and mighty that all others will bow down to Him, including the most powerful kings of the earth. He created the heavens and the earth. But the human race turned away from God their Creator and fell into sin and darkness. Turning away from God, the human race turned to dishonesty, cruelty, theft, tyranny and a whole host of other sins. Now if you searched your family tree, you would find an assortment of not only kings but thieves, pickpockets and liars.

However, even though the human race has turned away from Him, God has taken steps to call them back and make them His own. Many have come back to Him. To call men and women back to Himself, God came to this earth in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was born in a stable, grew up in obscurity, preached to tens of thousands, did miracles of healing and then was taken and nailed to the cross. Three days later, He arose from the dead. Because of His sacrifice on the cross, sinners who deserve death for the sins they have committed can instead find life in Him. And what life they find in Him! They find the forgiveness of sins, the love of God and eternal life.

To have this relationship, you must come as a sinner, by faith, to the Lord Jesus Christ and trust Him to be your Saviour. “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:12). Believing on His name, you become His child forever. “Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:27).

How wonderful to enter into a relationship with God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. You can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are a child of a King!

Not only does God have wonderful things in store for those who simply believe Him, but He has also sent you His personal invitation to come and believe. Find out what I mean in A Mysterious Postcard.

A Mysterious Postcard

One evening after a long day at work, I parked my car and walked to the mailbox by the street. Reaching my arm into the mailbox, I found the usual assortment of bills and advertisements. But there was one piece of mail that was not ordinary, and its strangeness caught my attention.

It was a beautiful postcard of blue water lapping onto a curving beach, with a lighthouse set in the distance and the words “IT IS TIME” printed at the top of it. I turned it over to see who it was from — maybe some friend or a relative on a seaside vacation, but the backside of the postcard was pretty much blank, except for some small print that I couldn’t read without glasses. Could it be an important invitation?

I went into the house, found my glasses and read the small print. It was only a reminder of an orthodontist appointment. After momentary disappointment, it dawned on me that I had already received an invitation from the most important person in the universe. And, frankly, it far excels any other invitation a person might receive.

That invitation is found in the Bible, and it invited me to leave sin’s darkness behind and come to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). The Bible is like a lighthouse, pouring light into a dark, sin-filled world and showing people the way to truth and life.

How it happened, I don’t know, but the light of God’s grace shone in my soul, and I understood and believed that God loved me. I also understood that through the death of His Son, God did everything that was necessary to blot out my sins that I might be forgiven.

I accepted His gracious invitation to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). And every day since then, He has invited me to walk in His light and find new discoveries of His grace.

Someday in the not-too-distant future, it will be time to leave this world. Are you ready? Those who believe in Jesus Christ will enter into the joys of heaven. They will live in the heavenly city that has no need of the sun, because the Lord God is the light of the place. Not one person will be a stranger there, and all will live in perfect love and fellowship. How different from our world where there seems to be endless strife!

Being saved, walking with the Lord Jesus, continually finding more of His love and grace, and having the hope of eternity spent in His very presence in heaven — these are some of the things it means to have the light of life.

God wants to bless you with all these rich blessings. IT IS TIME for you, too, to see the light from God’s lighthouse, the Bible, and be saved. Why continue to walk through sin’s darkness another moment, when God invites you to believe in His Son and come into His marvelous light?

A Giant Leap in the Progress of Navigation

In modern times, in an instant, ships can find their location while far out at sea with the push of a computer key, using GPS, or the Global Positioning System. But in the early 1700s, navigation — the science of knowing your exact location on the open seas and then knowing the direction you need to travel to reach your destination — was much more difficult. Because of shortcomings in the ability to navigate accurately, many ships, lives and cargos were lost at sea.

Navigators in those days could find the latitude of their positions. Latitude measures how far north or south you are on the globe and can be figured out by comparing the angle of the sun with the horizon. But navigators were at a loss on how to determine their longitude, or how far east or west they were. This difficulty was due to the spinning of the earth on its axis. Every hour the earth spins 15 degrees, or 1/24 of a complete revolution. Because of the spinning of the earth, navigators needed to know the exact time of day before they could calculate the longitude of their position.

If mariners had a timepiece that could keep accurate time at sea, their problems with longitude would be solved, but no such timepiece existed. The large pendulum clocks of the era were accurate on land but useless at sea, where the rolling of the ships and high humidity (moisture content of the air) made them inaccurate.

The British government realized that solving this problem would increase trade and commerce, so they offered a reward of 20,000 pounds to the person who could develop an accurate timepiece for sea. This was an immense sum of money in those days.

A few notable scientists, such as Isaac Newton, thought such a timepiece could not be built. However, notwithstanding his opinion, many people got to work in an effort to win the prize money. Among them was John Harrison, a young carpenter who had a fascination for clocks, and by the age of 20 had already built a number of wooden clocks. He set to work analyzing the problems timepieces faced at sea. And one by one, over the course of a lifetime, he figured out a way to overcome each difficulty. Finally, through perseverance and ingenuity, he developed a watch which would work at sea. In a trial, the watch only lost 38 seconds of time on an 81-day, transatlantic voyage. At the age of 80 years, John Harrison won the prize the government offered and was rewarded for his labors.

The development of this timepiece made it possible for mariners to figure out their exact locations, with both longitude and latitude. This was a giant leap forward in the progress of navigation. In fact, the famous explorer James Cook was one of the first mariners to use one of John Harrison’s timepieces. On a South Pacific voyage of exploration, he used the watch to find the exact locations of many new lands and islands he discovered.

Since the timepiece vastly improved navigation, it doubtless saved an untold number of lives and ships that otherwise might have been lost at sea.

Do you know that life, in many ways, is like a long voyage across an expanse of ocean? It is important in this voyage to know your exact location and also how to reach your desired destination. It is important, because it is very possible to end up shipwrecked when it comes to your immortal soul. You see, at the end of our lives, each one of us will find ourselves in one of two places. We will either find ourselves in a real heaven, where all is bright and joyful, or end up lost in a hell full of darkness and suffering.

If you want to reach heaven (and who doesn’t?), you need to know where you stand with God right now. The Bible tells us that we are all sinners in the sight of God: “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). It also says that we have all strayed off course and done things that are displeasing to God: “All we like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6).

Knowing that you are in the place of a sinner, lost and having gone astray, is important. Until you come to this realization, you will never see the great need you have of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Your present condition might resemble a ship that is fit and trim and ready for an ocean voyage, or you could be like a ship that has been battered about by winds and waves until it seems barely afloat. However, if you are not sailing in the right direction to reach your destination, how will you ever get there? It is only by coming to Christ by faith that any of us will ever reach heaven.

About two thousand years ago, the Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem. On the night of His birth, the angel of the Lord appeared in the night sky to shepherds in nearby hills. He told the shepherds, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

The infant whose birth was announced that night grew up into manhood, and then at about the age of 30, He began walking over the countryside of Israel, preaching the kingdom of God. Wonderful miracles accompanied His preaching wherever He went. The lame walked, the blind were given their sight, and He even restored dead people to life. The miracles were confirmation from heaven that all that this Man said was true.

After three and a half years of preaching the gospel, He was betrayed by one of His followers, given a false trial and sentenced to death. At any time He might have called out to God the Father to send angels to deliver Him, but He let Himself be nailed to the cross. He did this because He knew He had to die and shed His blood so that any sinner might have a way to be saved. After He died, He was buried in a tomb. But death couldn’t keep the Lord Jesus in that tomb, and He rose from the grave. He lives forever now in the power of an endless life.

Although they had wandered far from Him and the terrible stain of sin darkened their hearts, God loved all men, and by the sacrifice of His Son, He won for them the opportunity of reaching heaven. The glad tidings of great joy to all people had come true. The truth of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus means that sinners deserving death might find everlasting life through Him.

Now all can know Christ as the Saviour of sinners. Through faith in Christ, souls who were once headed to a lost eternity can now reach heaven.

Once a navigator figured out his position, the next step was to determine the direction he needed to travel to reach his destination. If you have realized that you are a sinner and then placed your faith in the Lord Jesus as Saviour, the next step is to start living like someone who is on their way to heaven.

In your journey through life, you should throw overboard things like bitterness, hatred, theft, deceit, and meanness and let them sink to the depths of the sea. Instead, fill your life full of mercy, compassion, kindness, faith, love, honesty and good works. God gives the power to do this.

Wherever God may lead you in this wide world, you should always be living out the “life of Christ” that is inside every believer in Christ. The journey through life may be hard sailing at times, but God in His grace will be there to help you in every part of the journey.

“They that go down to the sea in ships ... see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep” (Psalm 107:23-24).

Knowing where you are and where you’re going are critically important. Find out more in the next story, Where Am I Going?

Where Am I Going?

Like many of us today, the two young men in this story had gadgets with technology to help them get where they wanted to go without much fuss or worry or need to look at a map. In fact, to plan a flight across the country didn’t take much more effort for Mike than sitting at the computer for a few minutes and looking at the different options available.

He discovered that airline tickets to a place so far away were rather expensive. Then he found a very good deal if he took a flight out of a bigger city which was 150 miles away from where he lived. Calculating the time to drive that distance and the cost of fuel, he felt it was still well worth it to take a plane from there.

He asked his brother Steve to drive him to the airport so he wouldn’t have to leave his car there the whole time he was gone. They left quite early in the morning as the traffic in the bigger cities is often heavy and slow-moving during prime hours. Mike gave Steve his GPS to use. He had just bought it from someone online a few weeks before and was glad to see that it worked well. They got to the airport easily and in plenty of time.

Steve said good-bye to his brother and then got ready to make the three-hour trip back. The GPS has a feature that lets you choose “home” for a destination. That was just where Steve wanted to be as he had things to do and needed to get back. So he set the GPS for home and checked the time of arrival which was exactly the time he figured it would be. That was good as he wanted to have a couple of hours at home before an appointment in the evening.

Everything was going as planned, but there was one problem. The GPS had belonged to another person and the address for their home was not the same place Steve lived. It was not even close. Steve was going the wrong way and getting farther from home!

All of us are on a journey right now. You may not be on a plane or in a car or train but you are on the journey of life. There are only two roads: the road to Heaven and the road to Hell.

We all are born into a world of sin. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). But the Lord Jesus died on the cross to save you from a lost eternity if you will put your trust in Him and believe He died for you. Then you will be on the road to Heaven.

Steve drove for many miles not realizing he was getting farther and farther away from where he thought he was going. You may think you are going the right way and not even be aware you are lost in your sins and on your way to Hell.

It was nearly three hours later, when Steve should have been home, that he began to realize nothing looked familiar. After stopping to check his location, he was shocked to find he was now 300 miles from home! What a sinking feeling he had, besides being very tired from a short night of sleep. He thought he was doing everything right but he hadn’t stopped to consider just where he was going. He reset the GPS to go to the right place and turned around to start the long trip back.

You too can turn around if you are going the wrong way. The Bible tells us in Matthew 7:13, “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.” The next verse says, “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” It’s always easier to drift along with the crowd, but where are they taking you?

GPS isn’t the only source of wrong instructions. Friends can be just as unreliable, as you’ll see if you continue on to read Bad Directions.

Bad Directions

One year my friends and I went to a weekend get-together with many other Christian young people who loved the Lord Jesus. It was a time of good food, fun games and other scheduled activities. One of the activities we had to do was deliver a home-cooked meal to a certain home.

Since we didn’t know the area at all, we were given directions to help us reach the home. Unfortunately, the directions were not very accurate. They eventually led us to the location we were supposed to find, but our hosts had given us wrong street names. This led to our getting lost a few times along our activity route.

This is similar to our pathway through life. Sometimes we get “help” from well-meaning friends who don’t have their facts straight. Many people think they know the way to heaven, but in reality all they have to share with us is their own personal opinion. But God’s Word is an infallible guide. It never makes a mistake. Read God’s Word and ask God to show you His way to His home in heaven. God says about His own book, “The holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). Read it today! The Lord Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).

Getting Home

I grew up in a Christian family, attending church (or meetings as we called them) every Wednesday and Friday night, as well as three times on Sunday. From the time I was a little boy, my mother would read Bible stories to me before I went to bed every night and have me learn Bible verses for Sunday School. My father would read a chapter from the Bible after breakfast and supper every day, regardless of where we were or who we were with. It was something that I had grown used to through time, and I never questioned it much, nor did it really bother me till I started school. This was when I first learned that the other boys and girls celebrated things that we didn’t and didn’t go to any kind of meetings.

Throughout these first years of my life, I would pray with my mother every night beside my bed and pray that the “Lord Jesus would help me to wash away my sins.” I never really understood anything about this, other than I knew it was what I was “supposed” to be saying and I thought it made my mother and father happy. These were relatively peaceful years of my life before my stubbornness showed itself.

At the age of six or so, I began to dislike doing what I knew made me different from other children — going to meetings, staying home from parties, and other things. I didn’t say much about it though and kept my thoughts to myself other than arguing with my parents about “Why can’t I go here?” and “Why can’t I go there?”

I can’t actually tell you the exact date of the following story, except that I think it was just after my eighth birthday.

I wanted a bike! I mean I really wanted a bike! I wanted one with all my heart. When my parents told me to write out a birthday list, the very first item (maybe the only one), was my coveted bike. I can still remember vividly when a neighborhood friend told me that my parents had gotten me a bike for my birthday. “But don’t tell anyone that I told you,” he said.

Wow! My very own bike! Those next days, knowing that I had my bike but not being able to see it, were hard days for an eager eight-year-old boy. Finally, May 23 rolled around and we ate the supper and the cherry cheesecake, and then the present was about to be unveiled. My father asked me to come with him. We went around behind our neighbor’s toolshed. There it was! A beautiful, black, shiny Skyline dirt bike. The only thing that an eight-year-old boy could want. It had big fake yellow leather pads on the crossbar and the handlebar, which were all the rage, and no handbrakes — I really hated handbrakes. In big, shiny, metallic letters on the down-bar, it read Skyline. Ecstatic! Thrilled! Words couldn’t begin to express my excitement. It was bigger and better and badder than all the other bikes in the neighborhood.

I spent many fun hours on that bike! I rode the “trails” out behind our house. I took off for hours at a time and turned my mother’s hair prematurely gray.

At first, I wanted to bike everywhere. No place was too far and especially not the meeting room which was only a mile away. It was the perfect place to show off my new bike to all the envious others who wished (or so I thought) that they had one. I would get it going really fast, turn into the parking lot, jam on the brakes, and I know I could get at least a 10-foot skid out of that baby.

Anyway, one day I asked my parents if I could take the BMX to meeting and they said it was okay. Off I went alone, pedalling my heart out. It was always a game to me to see if I could beat my father to meeting. (Sometimes I think he went slow on purpose to let me win.) I arrived there this particular evening and took the bike inside.

After meeting, I did my usual fancy showing off as the older people (who I thought never did anything fun) talked to each other. As everyone was preparing to leave, I got on my bike and raced off, determined once more to beat my father home. I remember getting home, leaning the bike against the house, and strolling slowly around, waiting, trying to keep the cat’s grin off my face. I did it again!

But they didn’t come! I waited and waited and waited and waited! They never came. I began to get worried. Usually they were home only seconds after or even before me. I hadn’t seen them on the way home, but we took a different route since I could take a shortcut on my bike, so that hadn’t bothered me. I began to wonder and doubts came into my head.

After waiting, I’m not sure how long, I decided maybe I’d better ride back to the meeting room and see if they’d decided to stay and talk longer. Back to the meeting room I pedalled. I had a lump in my throat. The kind of hot one that doesn’t bring tears — but almost. I prayed the whole way back. “Our God and Father, please help Mommy and Daddy to be at the meeting room. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Not there! The lump grew bigger! The tears were closer! I began to pray harder!

Back home I rode — a little slower this time. And all the way, there was this little voice in my ear, “Danny, you know how they’re always saying the Lord is coming back to take the Christians to heaven. Well, you’re too late. They’re gone. And you’ve been left behind!” I tried to ignore the voice, my conscience, but it wouldn’t go away. The tears started to come. My last hope was that they had passed me as I went back to the meeting room and now were waiting for me at home.

They weren’t. I got off my bike on the front lawn and began to cry! And cry! My family all went to heaven and I was left on this earth. I knew that the Lord was coming back soon, but I had put it off till it was too late. The lump in my throat was the size of a balloon now. I wasn’t saved and my parents had gone to heaven. I was on my way to hell.

I began to pray ... and with more meaning than any other time in my life. I can’t remember the exact words, but I distinctly remember asking the Lord, if He hadn’t already come back for the Christians to take them to heaven, to wash away my sins and come into my heart. I was sorry for all the times I had done things I knew were wrong and I knew that I needed Him to save me from my sins. I prayed this over and over! And the Lord Jesus answered my prayer.

As I was sitting there, crying on the front lawn, in front of the text on the front of my house which said, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” my parents drove up in their big van. I don’t think I could have seen a happier sight except the Lord coming down to take me to heaven with Him.

As it turned out, my parents had gone to Dairy Queen to treat the family. I don’t think I even minded all that much. The royal treat I received was far better than anything my parents could have bought — my parents were still here and I was a child of God. I knew I was ready if He did come back to take those who were born again into His family to heaven and I would go too.

I don’t think I told my parents the story till years later, but I’m sure that this is when I accepted Christ Jesus into my heart. And now “I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate [me] from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus [my] Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). I can say for myself now, the “Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

I thank God that I was saved before it was too late. But what about you? The Lord is not going to wait forever. It tells us in His Word that He is not slack concerning His promise to return; He is just waiting for the very last person to accept His free gift because He does not want anyone to go to hell (2 Peter 3:9). However, once He comes to call believers up to heaven, there will be no second chance like there was for me. Are you ready?

Find out more of God’s wonderful provision in The Ultimate Welfare Program.

The Ultimate Welfare Program

Many governments in the world have welfare programs that help provide for the poor. I would like to introduce you to the absolute best program — the ultimate in welfare assistance.

This program takes the poorest of the poor and gives them assistance all through this life, so that they are maintained in a state of supernatural well-being. “Well-being” is another word that has an almost identical meaning to welfare. Unlike other welfare programs, which are terminated at death, this ultimate welfare program will keep on giving. Those enrolled can look forward to the time when they will receive full benefits.

Welfare systems are expensive, and many governments are hard pressed because of limited resources. But this ultimate welfare system has access to a never-ending supply of wealth. In fact, it is so well-funded that every person in the world could make as many demands on it for as long as they want, and the supply of wealth would still be limitless.

Also, this welfare system extends across all international borders. No matter what country a person may come from, all are invited to enroll and start receiving benefits immediately. In truth, the One in charge wants all people to take what He freely offers.

Sometimes welfare systems have the unintended effect of making people behave like victims and become dependent on handouts. But the ultimate system takes the poor and weak and makes them strong. It is completely honorable to seek this assistance. The only dishonor is to refuse it.

Are you ready to enroll? God’s grace is the “Ultimate Welfare Program,” because it takes the poorest of the poor — sinners — and gives them the most joyful welfare possible to humankind — eternal life.

It just so happens that every member of the human race ranks as the poorest of the poor spiritually, because not one of us can work our way to heaven. We can’t get to heaven without God’s grace. Sin has infected our nature. It has made us ill-willed where we ought to have good will towards others, including God, and unsettled our heart so that our desires are out of order. Because of these ill effects of sin, each one of us needs God’s grace in our lives. Only God has the ability to undo these ill effects. God’s grace, when put into our hearts, begins to bring healing to our souls.

Grace is God’s supernatural favor given to those who don’t deserve it in any way. You can have all the wealth in the world, but if you don’t know the love of God through the Lord Jesus Christ, you are not “faring well,” because you are still in your sins and headed to a lost eternity.

To enter heaven, a person must receive God’s grace, not earn it. This is because a person can’t, by his own efforts, remove the serious consequences of sin from his life. He can’t remove the stain of sin from his soul. He can’t bring order into his desires. He can’t pay the debt of everlasting punishment his sins deserve. Only by God’s grace can these evil consequences be removed.

On the cross, the Son of God gave His life so that His blood might wash away our sins. “The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanse[s] us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

In His body, as He hung on the cross, He bore the punishment for the sins of all those who would believe on Him. “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24).

By God’s grace, we can live our lives properly. “The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:11-12).

The riches of God’s grace will never run dry. If the entire world were to trust in Him for salvation, there would be an abundance of grace for each one. And that is what we all need — an abundance of grace.

God is deeply concerned about your welfare, and that includes your eternal welfare. Won’t you consider how much He loves you and then receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour? “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Your name will be written in the Book of Life when you do, and when this life is over, you will be welcomed into heaven!

But God’s offer of grace will expire. You’ll discover what that means if you continue on to read Ready.

Ready

It was Christmas Eve 2013 when a tropical trough hit the island of Saint Vincent as well as some other islands in that region of the eastern Caribbean. The islands in that area are very mountainous and the rains came so heavy and so fast that it caused great flooding and landslides. As the dirt and rock cascaded down the mountains in the middle of the night, a family escaped from their home that was directly in its path. However, one of them realized they didn’t have their cell phone, and thinking they had enough time to retrieve it went back into the house. The sad result was that they died in a tangled mass of concrete, corrugated steel, wood and household items.

“How tragic!” you say. But this incident is symbolic of many who are going into a lost eternity as they try to hold on to something they consider valuable in this world. The Lord said: “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37).

There is nothing in the world worth hanging onto in exchange for eternal salvation and the joy of knowing Christ!

Echoes of Grace: 2014

Table of Contents

Don't Get Confused by a Fake

How to Know for Sure He's Genuine

Certainty in an Uncertain World

The Atheist, Agnostic and Christian

The Safety Net Under the Golden Gate Bridge

A Catastrophe on a Texas Highway

How That Van Made It Through!

Ten Cents

The Prisoner of Glatz

The Urban Philosopher

Salvations' Day

Faithful Warnings From Faithful Friends

Heart Disease

Ben Veggors' Interrupted Meal

What Really Matters?

Finding Peace

Sweet Ride

Profit or Loss?

Bobbie, the Wonder Dog

My Citizenship

Are You Headed the Wrong Way?

Untold Treasure by the Door

Wasted Secret Stash

The Unappreciated Treasure

There Is Nothing Left for You to Do

Restored

Rock Slide

The Door to Hell

Beware!

The Best Advice You Will Ever Receive

I Love the Bible

The Day of the Miracle

Are You Related to Royalty?

A Mysterious Postcard

A Giant Leap in the Progress of Navigation

Where Am I Going?

Bad Directions

Getting Home

The Ultimate Welfare Program

Ready