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Two things I have spent a bit of time thinking on today were death and money. (Not really taxes… that just makes for a better title!) 🙂

Money was the topic of today’s sermon, and is an ever-present threat in our lives. It threatens us in the form of bills and deadlines that loom larger than income and bank accounts. It threatens us by the desire for more money, no matter how much it seems God gives us. We could always use more. And of course, it is a strain in several ways on our home as it makes both Jen & me tense if different ways, and at different times (usually). 🙂

What I can’t seem to figure out is why I return so often to this place? Why would I possibly let my doubt creep back in? Where have I been? Have I not seen Him take care of us over, and over, and OVER again? He has. He will. That won’t change… only my peace and joy as I follow him through it. I can go kicking and screaming, with one Excedrin-sized headache… OR, I can trust that Father knows best (that sounds like a good TV show name….) and let him lead. Really. Not in word only, but in my actions as well.

So, no matter how much I think I have this trust thing down, Father reveals to me again my stubbornness to really trust him, to allow his peace to infiltrate my heart, and live deep in my soul, emanating to my family around me.

Speaking of family, I have one of the best ones. THE best for me. I have three amazing kids, and I get to spend every day of my life with my best friend – the person I most want to share my life with. I am one lucky dude! But the other day I was playing a blast-from-the-past video game – Tecmo Superbowl for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) from 1991!! – and my opponent was the late Derrick Thomas of the KC Chiefs. He was a GREAT player! And no less great in the video game.

I thought about how crazy it is that he died. He was totally healthy… but was killed in a car accident. And I thought, too, of how often I am in a car. How easily I suppose I could be the one who was dead. How fragile our hold on this life really is. In one instant we are gone. Whether a crash, or a heart attack, or a stroke, or any number of things. I just don’t think of such things usually. My next breath is taken quite for granted. But I could easily be gone in the next five minutes.

There is no guarantee of tomorrow. Pretty much the only guaranteed things are death, and taxes. Money will always be an issue. It is perhaps the absolute greatest tool God uses to shape us… to help us to trust his provision more than our own. Death is unavoidable. We will all die. Even me. Sometimes I forget that. I don’t know the day, but God does. And on that day, I get to be with him in paradise. Incredible.

This post is not meant to be gloom and doom. Just some of the pondering from a slightly-more-than-normal introspective chap. Live to the full, like Jesus wants…. there’s no guarantee of tomorrow. Or even your next hours. So enjoy it…. with him.

And on top of that, don’t forget to pay your taxes.