This morning as I stood at my front door, morning coffee in hand, looking through the pouring rain at my neighbor's house, I was reminded of this passage in the book of Job:"Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I shall return. The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."
For the past year, Texas has been suffering through the worst drought in recent history. We prayed and prayed for rain and now the Lord is giving it. Blessed be the Name of the Lord!
My house was built in a new development in 1986 and one of my first neighbors to also build here was Manny. Through the years, he and his wife and family and mine shared many conversations and activities. He was kind, thoughtful and helpful. His wife passed a few years ago but Manny stayed in the house and continued being the kind, thoughtful and helpful person that he was. Like all of us, his health began to fail and he, too, passed away just recently.
Today, his family is having an estate sale to clear the house of all the things Manny and Jane accumulated over their lifetime together. Each and every item was given to them through the grace of the Lord and now they were being taken away.
Such it is with the human condition. We came into this world with nothing and when we leave, it is with nothing. No U-Haul follows us into eternity. The Lord blesses us with everything we have and He also takes it away. It is our choice as to how we use our blessings while we have them. Will we honor God with our blessings or use them selfishly?
God is giving us blessed rain for our thirsty land and He has given us His Son for our thirsty soul. God gave me a good friend and neighbor. Neither rain nor neighbors last forever, but God's ultimate gift is for eternity. I'd rather have Jesus.
"Blessed be the name of the LORD."
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