Birthdays and Birds

To my amazement, I turn 58 next week. I say "amazement" because life has gone by so quickly. For years I would gently say to any elderly men who cut me off while driving, "Hey, watch it grandpa." I have stopped saying that (I have seven grandchildren). If you are worried about getting old, or you want to consol someone who is, there is one really positive thing about aging. No, it's not senor discounts. It's actually getting old. Think about how many millions didn't get to do that. They died in their youth. Think of the 20 million people who died in the First World War. Most of them would have been soldiers who were in the prime of life--probably in their 20's. Or think of the 61 million whose lives were taken in the Second World War. Then think of all the other wars in history, all the young people who been taken by disease, or killed by cars and through other accidents. I remember when I was sixteen years old being pulled under the water while surfing. I became disoriented and mistakenly swam towards the bottom instead of towards the surface. When I did break through and gasped for air, I almost sucked in a passing seagull. I was surfing alone. It was getting dark. I could have easily been drowned. But I wasn't, and more than forty years later I'm still alive and kicking. So gratitude for life itself has helped me have a positive attitude towards something that is depressing for most. Compared to the fate of millions of others, I am incredibly blessed. Add to that, the fact that I have everlasting life in Christ, and I am unspeakably blessed beyond words.

Open Air Preaching

One new way we have been getting peoples' attention is to have someone blow up a latex glove until it's about two feet in diameter, and twist the end. While the person is blowing up the glove into a large balloon, we ask the gathering crowd to name famous people in the past who have died. People call out "Shakespeare, Napoleon, John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe," etc. Then I say, "The Bible says, 'For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away'" (James 4:14). When I say "vanish," I stick a pin in the balloon and it goes off with a huge bang. Then I say, "The second you die, no matter who you are, how famous you are, or what you have achieved, it's all going to mean nothing on that day. So please listen carefully to what I'm going to tell you about why we die, and what we can do about it." It's very visual, gathers a crowd, makes a good point, and goes off with a bang. You can also say that many people believe that they are going to Heaven because they are good, and do good things. Then relate it to a criminal admitting to the judge that he's guilty of a murderous crime, but saying, "I'm a good person and I do good things." Then 'When you stand before God will all your good works, they are going to mean this much (stick the pin in the balloon)." The only way to be saved is to trust in God's mercy--"Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to Thy cross I cling." Or you can use the four fingers and the thumb that stick out of the top of the balloon to go through five of the Commandments.