Buy my books " Joy in the Journey " and " Song in the Night" on Amazon now Experiencing sound quality issues? Please Click here The Dead in Christ Shall Rise First "The Dead in Christ Shall Rise First" 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Today, we gained an extra hour with the clock change! I hope you all remembered to set it back since everyone seems to have arrived on time. And perhaps that extra hour means I get an extra hour to preach—well, maybe not, since we do have a clock to keep us honest. But this change of time brings a question to mind. A question was once asked to a group of people: If you only had one hour left to live, who would you spend that hour with? It’s a question we might not think about often, but it’s powerful. People gave all kinds of heartfelt answers: some wanted to be with their grandfather, some with a parent. Then one person said they’d want to spend it with their pastor. The pastor
Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.