Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations.

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭42‬:‭1‬ NIV‬‬

750 years before Jesus’ birth, Isaiah knew.

One among hundreds of prophecies telling of the coming Messiah, this week we celebrate the triumphant entry into Jerusalem for what soon becomes his death and resurrection of eternal hope for all mankind.

Fulfilling prophecies from the Old Testament (e.g., Zechariah 9:9) it signifies the beginning of Holy Week with the waving of palm branches and shouting “Hosanna,” acknowledging Him as the Messiah and King.

Growing up Lutheran, our youth crafted hundreds of palm crosses worn by parishioners in remembrance of the day.

Today I’ll again make a few more to bless some close friends who never worn one before but have since obtained the privilege.

Hosanna in the highest!

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭40‬:‭28‬-‭30NIV‬‬

An estimated 2 billion people still remain behind the Jesus paywall.

The fact you’re reading this excludes you from that number who still never heard the story or know of its embedded invitation.

That places you in one of two camps and you can still switch sides up until the moment the music stops.

These days, having faith in anything is tough. So much deceit and manipulation has infiltrated every institution including our churches that trusting anything carries big risks and comes at a price.

I get it.

If my end game was merely to win for winning’s sake, the trust card would be my play at every move.

But salvation’s not a game and eternity’s a costly bet.

There’s only one suit that punches your ticket to everlasting life.

Read and trust in the word of God.

Faithful s always win.

The Lord Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭29‬:‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus’ return promises to be like a Michael Bay movie that happens in real time everywhere.

I trust we will have no better referent for that coming event which marks the end of this age.

The nice, gentle Jesus of our prayers and Sunday morning hymns returns in a sequel that wreaks disaster on those not choosing the kingdom over the world.

But…

He will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you, trust in the lord God forever, for the lord himself is the rock eternal.—Isaiah 26:3-4

So, the event awaited by history since time began will most certainly arrive in spectacular fashion, separating his sheep from the goats, the truly living from the dead, and an act of love by a jealous God to his faithful followers.

You wake up, and time has slipped away And suddenly it’s hard to find The memories you left behind Remember, do you remember?

It was 1975 and I was just shy of 16, counting myself lucky to have found a legally licensed friend to drive us both on double dates to sophomore prom.

As with all proms, it was themed after a popular song of the time. Paul Anka was big back then and “Times of your Life” had just hit Kasey Kasem’s top 10, earning it the theme of our adolescent gala.

Today at 64, single for 13 years, I heard the song again this past Sunday morning on the oldies station and sang along with all the memories wafted up from days gone by.

Back then, as adolescents with seeming immortality ahead as they often do, we thought it was all about us.

We’d understood the song to be about the hope of what lied ahead of us, not of one man’s reflection backward on those experiences which had already long passed into memory.

Tinkering along around the house as old men do, I was singing a song that brought back so many great memories of high school, while at the same time realizing it was truly a song of reflection on times and experiences long since passed.

And a lot has passed indeed.

Almost half a century.

I thought “So what do I have to show for those 50 years?” What have been those times of my life in particular that they say will race through your mind like celluloid as you wave and take your final bow only to retire your sore ash self dusted by family to the four winds over a favorite lake you once knew and remembered?

Apart from a knack for run-on sentences, a lot.

My list would first include people like my kids and grandkids, my family, my best friends, my dog, a few bosses, a few pastors, several complete strangers, all of whom might either not exist or whose lives and mine would otherwise be quite different without having spent at least some time or interactions with me. Indeed, they represent the most significant times of my life.

Next would be circumstances. My marriage, even my divorce, my family ad agency, my drug addiction, my recovery, my work with poor seniors and the homeless, and the times I spent writing stories about all these times of my life for others to experience.

Finally, I’ve spent much of my life urging my kids to “like things, and love people,” And as one who has given away 95% of my possessions as part of a purge while moving my residence, I condensed all things that ever mattered at all into a 5×5 storage space, which is still much more than I can take with me.

I’m not terribly thankful for the things I’ve accrued over half a century. In fact, I can’t think of any one item that has made any time of my life any more memorable.

Honest reflection makes gratitude easy.

At 64, I’m most thankful that the memorable people and memorable experiences, good and bad, are all that seem to matter anymore.

At 16 and self-centered with my whole life ahead of me, I never imagined that this time of my life would be the time of my life.

Good morning, yesterday.

30 years of looking left me one day short of locating my longtime best friend. At 12:19am 4 years ago this morning, Jodie notified me that Jim had passed in a California hospital just 6 hours earlier from a surgical infection.

For much of my 20s, Jim and I did everything together from hiking to biking to traveling and made some of the best memories up and down the west coast two quirky guys ever could.

I’d exhausted all leads many years back, resigned that maybe—or obviously—Jim just didn’t want to be found.

Turns out I’d been only 300 miles away and right on both counts.

His life was an inspiration for that wonderful decade of exploring our youth as single, available, adventurous young men.

I’ve assembled so much to tell him since, in hopes of finding him, if only he would have surfaced a little sooner.

But he was quiet, humble, unpretentious and always flew under the radar, never having coveted the spotlight nor celebration of anyone.

I’m told his final years were spent reclusive, likely fighting the mental health demons we’d discussed 40 years ago and about which I promised to never reveal for as long as I lived…but now wonder if that was the kind of promise that should ever be made or kept by a true friend.

Alas, I now have someone who I’m assured will be first in line to hug me at heaven’s gate soon enough.

I’d have loved to write a much longer story about our decade of friendship together but it wouldn’t be fair if he couldn’t read it first. So I’ll just keep that story inside me as a special parting gift from Jim.

Can’t wait to see you again man.

Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭25‬:‭1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God is a strategist.

Like a screenplay, all things unfold in the perfect time and place accomplishing his divine purpose in the story of our lives as we look on in admiration.

As crazy as things seem some days, our comfort resides in his plan.

1 Cor 13:12 explains we look through a glass darkly now with an imperfect or obscured understanding of God and spiritual truths in this life, but will know more clearly in the afterlife.

I once wrote a short story on my website about entering heaven with an axe to grind about so many unanswered questions.

God directed me to scan a set of blueprints of events of my life and the interconnectedness with the lives of others.

Afterward, with all my questions sensibly satisfied, he granted me his favor, albeit with a little chuckle.

God has a plan. He is a strategist.

God is in control.

All you people of the world, you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it, and when a trumpet sounds, you will hear it.

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭18‬:‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

To cop a fitting cliche, when all is said and done, it literally will be so.

We are guaranteed to witness, see and hear the beginning of the ending of time as we know it.

While it will strike joy in the hearts of many, it will trigger the fear of all fears in the hearts and minds of others who repeatedly chose against the invitation to be free.

The ‘us vs them’ that has characterized our world on every issue from the start will be immediately rendered a non-issue as it transfers to the hand of the one who issued such things from the very beginning.

Relief from the struggle will create joyous elation and deep regret simultaneously as their determinations and destinations are set.

This is why now and today is so critical for all of us while we still can act before the banner appears and the trumpet sounds.

For when God writes names in the Lamb’s book of life, he does so for eternity.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭11‬:‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Isaiah, prophesying about the Lord’s return, makes clear his judgments won’t be made by what is visible or audible by men, but by what is unseen in their hearts and minds.

It’s not how much good we have done or said but the condition of our heart that confirms or denies where we will spend the afterlife, and only an omniscient God is qualified to make that accurate determination.

To be sure, our finite senses are incapable of such a task.

The Lord Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen.

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭14‬:‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

There’s no cheating our way into heaven, no letters of recommendation from friends or family, and no “just passing” by the skin of your teeth.

Believe in Jesus and you will be saved (John 3:16) as fully as Billy Graham.

And even then, he’s just our best assumption.

Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us.

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭8‬:‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Our ways of thinking are dimensionally limited.

Don’t be surprised when despite your very best efforts to plan and execute, you only earn a participation trophy.

So many variables, possibilities, and impossibilities exist, we can’t make fully informed decisions or plans that take all into account.

This is why we pray.

Asking God’s guidance as a first step invites his wisdom across all dimensions to be enacted on your behalf.

The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled and human pride brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭2‬:‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

In that day…

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭5‬:‭20‬-‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Lately, there’s been a lot of speculation about exactly when that day is, yet all we know is that no one does

People would rather waste time supposing they are clever enough to figure it out than to take the necessary step to avoid its perilous consequences.

I don’t care much anymore about the end times and last days or the end of the world as we know it.

I care about the people I know and love who, at least for now, won’t be joining me into the next beautiful life ahead.

If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭7‬:‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

But I’m poignantly aware I’m not here to make their decisions but to stand firm and gently beg them to decide for themselves on that truth of which I have been convinced.

Because it will make all the difference,
in that day.