HOLD FAST HOPE!

so today i sandwiched attending a funeral in between calling to wish joey a happy birthday in the morning and calling to wish jason a happy birthday at noon. (being a pacific coaster, i figured he'd rather me not call him at 4:45 am his time...) but as i was getting ready for the day and also thinking about the impending birth of ryan and sarah's baby... i found myself meditating on this passage in Ecclesiastes 7:

"a good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. it is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. it is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools..."

the other night at men's bible study, we were talking about the complacency of normalcy, (say that 5 times fast) and the stunning nature of Revelation 9:20-21. 1/3 of mankind is destroyed, but the living DO NOT repent. they just keep on going...

i'd also been listening quite a bit to the new thrice "live at the house of blues cd" (and watching the dvd). some lyrics have really been sticking out at me... from "broken lungs": "A fire burns beneath Manhattan still we breathe with broken lungs we act like none of this matters is that what we meant when we said that we'd sing what must be sung?" yeah, it's totally possible to be shocked and then to go back to life as normal...

i found myself writing in the margin of my bible, "God, may i not be as obstinate!" and being humbled by the fact that He has opened my eyes to the reality of the gospel!

today, i have come face to face with birth and death; life temporal and life eternal. may my living in the one be always grounded with an eye towards the other!