A Time For It All

TITLE: A Time For It All
DATE:  September 14, 2019
TEXT:. Matthew 24:42-44 – ESV - Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

The 3rd chapter of Ecclesiastes begins this way:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

Nobody can argue with those words. How could they, since in a very few lines they cover most of a person’s life. Indeed, just about the only thing I could add to those poetic lines is this: normally we expect a reasonable period of time between the two opposites.

We expect that, but we don’t always get it.

Consider the story of 19-year-old Harley Joe Morgan and 20-year-old  Rhiannon Boudreaux Morgan. The Texas duo had met and begun dating in high school. Then, a few years after they graduated they decided to get married.

Oh, they had other plans, too. He spoke about going to college and she was considering entering nursing school. Those were their plans, but first the wedding. They got hitched on a Friday afternoon at their Orange County Texas courthouse.

The couple accepted the congratulation of the few family and friends who had come to offer their congratulations and prayers for the new couple.

After all the formalities and informalities were concluded, the couple got into their Chevy Caprice. They started up the motor, put her in gear, crossed over the parking lot to so they might pull on to the highway. That was when Harley’s car collided  with a Ford F-250 which was pulling a trailer.

The driver of the pickup was all-right,; not so, the newly-wed couple.

Their car was pushed into a culvert, where the two died.  As Ecclesiastes says, “there is a time to be born and a time o die. For the rest of the wedding party which was lined up behind the couple, they knew there is a time to weep and a time to laugh...
,...and, yes,  they also know there is a time to mourn.

Harley’s mother, considering the carnage, said "Go home and hug your family tonight.  If you have kids, go home and hug them...” It is good advice. That which the Savior gave is even better. The Lord, Who gave His life so we might have life; Who defeated sin and removed the sting of death wants us to know the grave is not the end. Because of Him, for those who are ready for the world’s judgment day, or their own personal day of death, Jesus has given us a time to dance for joy in Him.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, truly we don’t know how much time has been given to us. That is why we pray that we may remain in a perpetual state of readiness. This we ask in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

The devotion for today was inspired by various recent news articles. For further reading you may wish to go to this address: https://www.newser.com/story/279566/couple-gets-married-pulls-onto-the-highway.html https://www.newser.com/story/279566/couple-gets-married-pulls-onto-the-highway.html and the article written by Neal Colgrass.
The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He along with three of his brothers perform on the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html