He’s gone out of style, but the world will be a poorer place when it loses the last of his kind.”
              –Elmer Kelton  (The Time It Never Rained)

       “I know that there is nothing better for them to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime.”
              –Ecclesiastes 3:12(NASB)
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My Pastor, Milton Pool, preached a very good message Sunday on the “Seasons of Life” using the very familiar verses of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3:1-8.  When I was a kid, junior and high school, my favorite time of the year was the Spring–baseball season.  Notice it has a “season” of its own.  Close to it was the autumn–the World Series.  As you can see, my life sort of revolved around baseball.
    Then as I became older, my favorite season became Fall.  That time of year when the leaves turned color warning us that winter is soon to come.  In the fall of the year, we may or may not have snow, but to look upward toward the high peaks, which would already be snow-covered there was another warning–winter is soon to come.
    Throughout life I think we are given such warnings.  Most of the time we do not begin to heed them until we get in the Autumn of our lives.  We don’t often think of the Fall of our lives during the summer months.  We are far too busy making a living.  Doing “things,” paying bills, and trying to enjoy life.  Once in a while we may think of the future, maybe when we attend a funeral, but not often.  Life is simply too busy to be thinking of such things.
    Let me jump to verse 11 of chapter 3.

         “He has made everything appropriate in its time…” (NASB)

What time is it?  That is an appropriate question, one in which everyone should ponder, and answer.  Look at two more Scriptures:

         “For He says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
                  –2 Corinthians 6:2 (NKJV)

         “This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.”
                  –Psalm 118:24  (NKJV)

These verses show us what time it is.  This is the day of salvation!  Today, is the “accepted time.”  Then I follow up with the idea that since you have been saved by grace, what are you doing, today, to grow in grace?  We are to be accepting the Lord–today.  We are to be following the Lord–today.
    One of the ways we grow in grace is to realize and accept that the day is given to us by the Lord.  What will we do with the time He has given to us today?  For sure “WE WILL rejoice and be glad in it.” (emphasis added)  We are to be enjoying the time He has given us today; we are to be glad of the day and all that it brings.

The road before me now stretched long and lonely, a road I must walk with a gun in my hand.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (Silver Canyon)

    “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”
              –Luke 13:24 (NKJV)
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In my life I’ve traveled down various kinds of roads.  They varied from highways covered with black ice to washboard roads filled with dust.  There have been roads filled with mud, so that the vehicle slid from side to side as it continued to make its way up the canyon.  There have been roads covered with snow, roads that I could not see because of the fog, and of course those roads that were smooth with no obstacles.
    When I think of roads many images come to my mind.  I could reflect all days on the roads I’ve traveled.  Also, the poem by Robert Frost comes to mind.  Which road should be traveled.  There was a doubt in the traveler’s mind of which road to take, then it came to him he could come back to the first road, so he took the road less traveled.  Look at the last verse.”

         “I shall be telling this with a sigh
          Somewhere ages and ages hence:
          Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
          I took the one less traveled by,
          And that has made all the difference.”

    There is a choice for all to make:  which road?  The one with the glitter, the lights, the noise and the parties.  The one that has inns along the way with plenty of food for the traveler.  Or the one that is straight and narrow, the one wrought with obstacles and peril.

         “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
                   –Matthew 7:13-14(NKJV)

Once you are on the road to glory–live like it!  It is a road of holiness, not one of frivolity and debauchery.  It is one on which you become salt and light to the world, not one in which you partake of darkness and the things of the world.  Someone has said that, “Christianity is made for the road.”  That is so true, no matter what type of road you may travel, no matter what type of conditions you may face.  It is a narrow, one-lane road, one less traveled than the other.  

Most wondrous of all in nature was human life, and beyond all sublimity was the human soul!”
              –Zane Grey  (Wanderer of the Wasteland)

    “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry for help.”
              –Psalm 34:15 (HCSB)
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I like the way this portion of Psalm 34 starts out–there are two paramount ingredients to have a purposeful and meaningful life.  The first is to be taught the “fear of the Lord,” and the second is to “delight in life.”  My Pastor when I was growing up was G.R. Kelly and I have a note written in a Bible from one of his sermons:  “Life is living.”  These verses tell us how to enjoy this life that the Lord has given us.  Notice:  we have to be teachable.  That is a real problem with many people.  Lessons will come, the means by which we learn them is up to us.  Remember that life gives the test first, then teaches the lesson.

    11 – Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
    12 – Who is the man who delights in life, loving a long life to enjoy what is good?
    13 – Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech.
    14 – Turn away from evil and do what is good; seek peace and pursue it.
    15 – The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry for help.
    16 – The face of the Lord is set against those who do what is evil, to erase all memory of them from the earth.
    17 – The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them from all their troubles.
    18 – The Lord is near the brokenhearted; He saves those crushed in spirit.
    19 – Many adversities come to the one who is righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all.
    20 – He protects all his bones; not one of them is broken.
    21 – Evil brings death to the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be punished.
    22 – The Lord redeems the life of His servants, and all who take refuge in Him will not be punished. (HCSB)

Our heavenly Father carefully watches over His children.  He listens for their cry.  He protects and guards them.  Let’s look at how we shall live and be His children.
    1)  We are not to be independent.
           Man needs the Lord.  This is one thing that man fights against for he wants to be autonomous.  God is our deliverer and sustainer.  We need to fear the Lord and walk in the light of His Word.
    2)  We are to talk right and live right.
           For some reason this is a major problem today.  Filthy language is common place and even Christians smirk at the thought that they should not curse or use coarse jesting.  It is imperative that we replace wrong thought and actions with right ones.
    3)  We are to stay tender.
           It is easy, with all the hatred to join in with their ranks.  However, hatred is not what the Lord desires from us.  God is far from hard-hearted people so we should seek to keep our hearts tender.  
           Someone has said that, “Victory is the crisis moment of exhilaration, but peace is the long-term aftermath.”  The term, “Shalom” means “wholeness, soundness.”  If we have the peace of the Lord we will be a whole person; we will walk with soundness of soul.
    4)  We need to wait for final outcomes.
           There is a contrast between the righteous and the wicked.  Their life is different, their words are different, their outlook is different, their actions are different.  Seek to be righteous for the wicked will be destroyed.
           Listen, adversity may scar, muscles may be strained, but the bones will not be broken.  In other words, the inner man will make it to heaven.  Keep in mind that our essential care is in the hands of the Lord.

           “Teach me, my God and King,
            In all things thee to see.
            And what I do in anything
            To go it as for thee.”
                   –George Herbert