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An old friend is dying.
I got a phone call this morning
she is in the last days or even hours.

She knows Jesus....

I was reading in Ecclesiastes this morning Chapter 1, 2
Solomon tries everything to find joy and peace and fulfillment.
Vanity
Vanity......
He ends up depressed.
No sparkle on anything.
Horticulture and gardens,
science and discovery,
sex in abundance,
personal and professional power,
work - interesting and exciting,
food of all varieties and unlimited quantity,
leisure, great accomplishments, creative pursuits

Nothing...

Tried everything....
for Solomon knows
at the end of it all

He dies

the end.

someone else gets it
and nothing is saved.
Not even a real legacy
as someone else,
smart or stupid,
hardworking or lazy,
will take it over.

and for him that makes it all vanity....

a waste
useless....

or I wonder....
is he missing something?
Not just information.... 
but a perspective that
brings value
and fulfilment
and really
changes everything...

Paul in 1 Thessalonians 3
tells a different narrative...
- Restraint
- Live holy lives
- Love sacrificially
- Work for your food

and at the end of it all
You will be with Jesus
forever.
'therefore encourage each other with these words...' vs 18

The FOREVER piece.
was missing from Solomon's paradigm.
and that makes
all the difference.

And because I live with it daily as part of my
emotional, spiritual framework
sometimes I forget
that those without it
don't walk on this solid ground
I sometimes take for granted.

Lord Jesus
Thank You that I can count on
FOREVER
with YOU
and that this lifes end
is just the beginning
and for those who pass before me
who know You
I will enjoy being with them
as well....

Hebrews 12:1 THEREFORE THEN,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses
<who have borne testimony to the Truth>,
let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance
(unnecessary weight)
and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly)
clings to and entangles us,
and let us run with patient endurance
and steady and active persistence
the appointed course of the race that is set before us,
2 Looking away <from all that will distract>
to Jesus,
Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith
<giving the first incentive for our belief>
and is also its Finisher
<bringing it to maturity and perfection>.
He, for the joy <of obtaining the prize - (us) >
that was set before Him,
endured the cross,
despising and ignoring the shame,
and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Just think of Him
Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition
and bitter hostility against Himself
<reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials>,
so that you may not grow weary or exhausted,
losing heart and relaxing
and fainting in your minds. (AMP)

Changes
Everything.

yeah.

Amen.

PJ