Chaplain's Corner!

Some of the best TV commercials for either football or NASCAR racing are based on the question, "How bad do you have it?" To finish the question it could be "How bad do you have sports mania or insanity?" To define the word "bad", a fan does something to reveal to us that nothing else matters in life except that particular form of entertainment. My own addiction to football ended when the Green Bay Packers lost to the Atlanta Falcons. I teased other Packer fans about being set free to get back to normal life. I have enjoyed these commercials and they are a good illustration of how we can get caught up into worldly things and ignore things of the kingdom of God.

With this racing season soon approaching, may I ask you "How bad do you have it?" Do you find yourself trying to take those 35-mph 180-degree freeway ramps at 70-mph in the family car only to have screeching tires and a near rollover? Do you take turns wide, tight, and then drift out to the yellow dividing line, being very smooth? Do you sit in your kart in your garage making motor noises with your mouth? If you're like me, you are visualizing yourself driving around all the tracks you have committed to race at this year. We certainly can get caught up contemplating things that we enjoy on this earth even if we consider them a gift from God.

Now let me ask you, "How good do you have it?" The Bible calls some of the things we get caught up in empty or vanity. As you think of them, they only offer momentary satisfaction, a little joy or distraction from the real issues of life. But God offers us eternal life, and a quality of life beginning here on earth. Jesus offers this life to those who believe in Him through new birth (John 3:3-16). He offers living water that springs up within us so we never thirst again (John 4:10-14). He says He is the bread of life and those who come to Him will never go hungry (John 6:35-40). I could go on and on with the claims of Christ as to what we can have in Him, but that would fill this entire paper. Things like forgiveness, peace, love, wisdom, counseling, deliverance, acceptance, purpose, commissioning for service, sacrificial living, persecution and abundant life. Now let me ask you again, 'HOW GOOD DO YOU HAVE IT?" Why do we resist trading vanity for abundance? The things of this world have their place and many are blessings from God, but we must never allow them to catch our hearts or to control our lives.

If you haven't already done so, why not come to Jesus who offers His abiding relationship with you and you may say, "How good I have it!"

Chaplain Ken