MONDAY, MAY 26, 2014
TRAGEDIES

Life on this side is full of tragedies. One in particular became a defining moment for my grandfather, Russell, on Restoration Road.

In the 1940's, Russell, a farmer in his mid-twenties, was combining the fields of their family farm with his sixteen-year-old brother, Harold, at his side. They had planned to be business partners in a couple of years when Harold turned eighteen. As the two of them discussed their future, Harold, who was athletic, jumped off the combine to chase a rabbit that had caught his eye. After a couple of minutes, Russell felt his combine run into an obstacle in the field. He got out to look, only to encounter a scene that would be forever embedded in his mind: it was his brother, Harold, twisted in the blades of the combine.

Near death, Harold was whisked to the hospital where he underwent weeks of treatment that restored him to health. When his doctors finally told him that he would be released from the hospital the next day, Harold was excited. He had his softball glove in one hand and a softball in the other as he threw the ball repeatedly into his mitt. "I'm going home tomorrow, Rusty," he said enthusiastically to Russell as the glove popped.

That night, Harold went to sleep without being given his medication to assist in the prevention of blood clots.

Harold never returned home.

When I look back at Russell's life, I realize that he had for decades carried a major tragedy with him that required restoration. While Russell lived his next sixty years on this earth without Harold, there was only one way that he would be restored with his brother, being in Christ.

The wise woman from Tekoa shared the following with King David: "Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take life away; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him" (2 Samuel 14:14).

God is devising ways for you and me to live life in Him.

One day we are all going to return to the ground from which we came. The question remains, "What part of the ground will our hearts resemble: sand, stone, or clay?" The condition of our spiritual hearts at our departure will determine where our hearts travel into the next life: north or south.

The time given to each of us on earth is a gift from the Restorer; our task is to leave a legacy to restore future generations. Keep that life and lose it. Give that life and keep it. Die once; live twice. Live once; die twice. While we travel, there is only one road that travels north. It is called "Restoration Road."

Blessings,

For more, watch:
Episode 33: God Devises Ways for Life

Hardcover

336 Pages
Credo House Publishers
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Study Guide

12-Week Series
80 Pages
Credo House Publishers (2010)

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DVD

12-Week Series
120 Minutes
Credo House Publishers (2010)

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