New Mascot

Special thanks to Chuck for providing our new class mascot. I was thinking of Psalm 42:1 and Lewis wondered during class about the possible significance of the obvious mortality of our mascot. I really hadn't noticed that verse 2 of the same chapter seems to apply to the question of mortality. In verse 2 the psalmist asks, "When shall I come and appear before God?"

Thanks to everyone for a great discussion on Sunday. I think the contrasts raised are important in seeing the truth that God wants to work into our lives. As Bud was stressing, God is able to use our backgrounds so that our life will not be wasted. God always has a path for us. Some paths are pretty short. Piper's example of the gentleman saved late in life is one example of a short path and so it the thief on the Cross with Jesus. God has used both of these men as examples to us. They are negative examples that God uses to encourage us to run our race with patience. If we have wasted time and resources we should not feel despair but we may feel an appropriate sorrow for lost opportunities in our lives. Despair is without hope of restoration. Despair is stuck in defeat. Godly sorrow leads to repentance. God is able to use us from our point of repentance. As the Apostle Paul stressed, we can't view God's Mercy and Grace as license to sin or be slack in our pursuit of God (Romans 6:1-14). We need to center our lives on that passionate pursuit of our Savior. I pray that God's Holy Spirit would awaken a thirst in us the manifests Psalm 41:1 in our lives. You have been brought from death to life. All your skills and all your life are to be yielded to God as instruments in His hands for righteousness.