We are here to memorialize the life of Marlin Estrada. It seems like we often wait until a person’s life is over before we recognize the value of that person. Even with my limited acquaintance with Marlin, I know that he had a tremendous impact on many people’s lives and of course, on your own lives. His wife will miss his stability. His children will miss his influence. And his friends will miss his helpfulness. Because we will miss him so, we know his life was not purposeless. There was a reason he was here and was a part of our lives. And in a sense, though his life has left his body, we know he will continue to influence us in some ways. And when we recognize that, we admit that there is more to life than just the present. He’s gone, and yet his influence is still around.

Marlin knew there was more to life than the here and now. About six months ago he and I talked for quite awhile, and we discussed some of these things. Tonight, I would like to share with you some of that conversation. I’d like to try to answer the question, “What is our life about?” Or, “What is your life about?”

To answer that, we must first understand what life is. What is life? Life–is a gift. In the one of the Psalms, after recognizing the greatness and glory of God, the Creator, the writer asks, “What is man, that thou visitest him?” He continues and shows how God made us and gave us life and gave us a place in his creation. He gave us a job to accomplish over all his creation. And then we read in Romans that eternal life is a gift of God that can only be received through the Lord Jesus Christ. The eternal life that we all know exists can only be enjoyed by those who have received Jesus Christ–the Creator, Master and Savior. So, life here is a gift of the creator. Life there, is given through Jesus Christ.

But, What is OUR life? — The Bible tells us in the book of James that our life is a vapor. It’s like the mist that comes out of our mouth on a cold winter day. It’s there for a moment and then vanishes away. Even if we live a long time, when it’s time to be over, we think of it as a short time. The years of our lives, long or short, are just a moment when compared to history and eternity. It is important then, to us to use this short time to its fullest potential. While influencing friends and family is important and unavoidable really, because life there (after this time) is so important, it is imperative that we prepare for there while we are here. And there’s not much time to do that. Our life, long or short, is a vapor–a mist, a puff of smoke that is soon gone. And as Marlin’s life teaches us, no one is guaranteed to live until a certain time, or for a certain number more years, months, weeks, or even days. None of us KNOWS that we won’t be gone from here ourselves tomorrow, or even tonight. So…

What is our life ABOUT? — The Bible tells us that each person’s purpose for being is to give pleasure to our Creator. And God is glorified when we turn to Him for our every need. He is shown to be holy, righteous, just, merciful, gracious, and loving when we see ourselves as helpless and needy and trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ His Son to save us and give us eternal life. When he gives us that life we are born again into His family. And when we leave our families here on this earth, we’ll join our heavenly family over there. Truly, the most important thing you can do with your life now is to make it ready for the time after now. And the only way to do that is through trusting Jesus Christ to save you. Acts 4:12 says that there is no salvation in anyone other than Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said that He was the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no one would get to the Father (in heaven) except through Him.

What is your life about? It is about getting ready for the next life. And then it’s about influencing family, friends, and acquaintances to themselves also be ready for the next life. As we finish, let Marlin’s life and let me ask you… “What is your life about?” Are you ready to live the rest of this life and the next?

The kings heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it withersoever he will.

War is Costly
Peace is Priceless

Tyranny is Peaceful

As long as there is no Judeo-Christian religion in public education, violence there will escalate.

Here’s a perspective worth reading.  And considering.

Cathy’s Corner: Healthcare, Welfare and the Independent Fundamental Baptist.

What do you think?  Do you have insurance?  Could you get it if you thought it was important?

Here’s a quick commentary about some American’s reactions to our lost olympic bid.

Commentary: GOP celebrates U.S. defeat – CNN.com.

So what do you think?  I have to admit, I can see his point more than a little.

Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

Jeff Voegtlin

Congratulations on finishing the 2009 Blueberry Stomp

Here are your individual results:

Finish time – 25:09.8

Pace per mile – 8:07

Overall finish place – 168

Place in age group Male 35 to 39 – 15

Thank you for participating. We hope to see you next year!

I Wish All Problems Would Be So Simple

Everyone concentrates on the problems we’re having in this country lately –

1.  (a) Illegal immigration, (b) Hurricane recovery, (c) Alligators attacking people in Florida

……… not me — I concentrate on solutions for the problems — it’s a win-win situation.
    * Dig a moat the length of the Mexican border.
    * Send the dirt to New Orleans to raise the level of the levees.
    * Put the Florida alligators in the moat along the Mexican border.
       

Any other problems you would like for me to solve today? Yes !
    Think about this:
    2. Cows
    3. The Constitution
    4. The Ten Commandments

2.  COWS

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow..

3.  THE CONSTITUTION

They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq …. why don’t we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it has worked for over 200 years, and we’re not using it anymore.

4.  THE 10 COMMANDMENTS

The real reason that we can’t have the Ten Commandments posted in a court house is this — you cannot post ‘Thou Shalt Not Steal’ ‘Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery’ and ‘Thou Shall Not Lie’ in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians … it creates a hostile work environment.