Saint John's Lutheran Church

In a Reader’s Digest article, Warren Greely and some of his coworkers were digging on a construction project on a college campus. They uncovered an underground power line directly in their path. Warren writes, “I suspected it was only an abandoned line but, to be safe, I called the maintenance department and asked for someone to identify it. An electrician arrived, looked at the cable, and assured us it was dead. ‘Just cut it out of your way,’ he said. ‘Are you sure there’s no danger?’ I asked. He replied, ‘I’m sure.’ I handed him the wire cutters and asked, ‘Well, then, will you cut it for us?’ He hesitated for a moment and, with a slight smile, answered, ‘I’m not that certain!’”

How certain are you that you will go to heaven when you die? Are you willing to stake your life on it? I hope so. That’s a critical question because in order to be reasonably confident in the present, you must have a realistic hope for the future.

Two athletes of equal ability accept scholarships to play football at an NCAA university. One goes on to a great career in the NFL while the other player flounders and eventually drops out of school. Two entrepreneurs with equal assets develop businesses. One makes millions while the other one goes bank-rupt. Two couples begin their marriages with similar cultural and spiritual backgrounds. Thirty years later the one couple is happily married with grand-children, the other is divorced and barely speaking to each other. Why is it that some people succeed and others don’t? Is it just plain old luck?

A Christian pastor serving in the Midwest received a letter of complaint from a lady. She was upset with him because of some things that he said during a speech which she attended. I’d like to read a portion of her letter for you:

“This letter is in reference to some disturbing opinions you discussed in your speech at the Hope University graduation on May 18, 2002. While comparing worldly success and what God may consider successful, you made a comparison between Princess Diana and Mother Teresa. Even though you prefaced your statements with, ‘Although I’m not the judge’ you still continued to make the judgment, comment on it, and offend myself and others in my group . . . How dare you attempt to speak for God . . . It’s absolutely absurd and arrogant of you to attempt to comprehend the mind of God.”

We’re living in turbulent times. Think of all the unsettling events of the past decade. There was the shocking terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. Two of the world’s most impressive buildings collapsed into a heap of rubble in Manhattan, and 3,000 innocent lives were lost. Ever since then, Americans have been deeply troubled. Who knows where suicide bombers may strike next?