Ecclesiastes 4:12\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.\u00a0\u00a0A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.<\/i><\/p>\n
Yesterday I gave my keys to my parents\u2019 house to the buyer\u2019s real estate agent.\u00a0\u00a0The buyer had completed her final walk through of the house, but asked if I would wait for her parents, from another country, to arrive and view the house.\u00a0\u00a0I wasn\u2019t sure how long it would take.\u00a0\u00a0The agent said that if I preferred, and if I would, I could leave the keys with her and she would then leave them with the escrow agent.\u00a0\u00a0I hesitated, but something about the agent told me she was family so I gave them to her.\u00a0\u00a0Later I found out that we both belonged to the same family, we are both Christians.<\/p>\n
It was not easy to give the keys to her.\u00a0\u00a0Technically, I did not need to do so for probably about another week.\u00a0\u00a0I have always carried the keys to my parents\u2019 house since I was child in elementary school.\u00a0\u00a0Then, it was my home, of course I had keys.\u00a0\u00a0Then the day came when I moved out to marry my bride.\u00a0\u00a0My parents told me to keep the keys and that their home would always be my home and I was always welcome at any time.\u00a0\u00a0So over the last fifty-three years I have carried the keys to my parents\u2019 house, along with my home keys and my car keys.<\/p>\n
Yesterday was the anniversary of the day that, four years ago, my Dad went home to be with Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0In April of this year my mother went home to be with Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Oh yes, she was looking forward to reuniting with my Dad, but rest assured, she was most looking forward to seeing Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0After giving my house keys to my parents\u2019 house, later yesterday evening, my wife and I went out to mark the anniversary of my Dad\u2019s passing.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As we walked out to the car I pulled the keys from my pocket and saw only two keys on the key ring, the car key and the key to our home.\u00a0\u00a0Missing were the keys to my parents\u2019 house.\u00a0\u00a0I stopped and looked at the key ring that was missing the keys to my parents\u2019 house.\u00a0\u00a0It hit me like a sledge hammer.\u00a0\u00a0Oh my, oh my!\u00a0\u00a0Now only two keys.\u00a0\u00a0Oh my!<\/p>\n
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThere is a time\u00a0for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: 2\u00a0a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is a different season.\u00a0\u00a0It has been a very difficult season with more difficult times coming.\u00a0\u00a0Many changes that are a ramrod through my body, heart and soul.\u00a0\u00a0Yet, the above verse from Ecclesiastes speak to me.\u00a0\u00a0Life is such a precious gift.\u00a0\u00a0It is an ocean with ebbs and flows.\u00a0\u00a0This last night I could not sleep.\u00a0\u00a0A flood of memories from my life.\u00a0\u00a0Of my parents and the countless memories of their home.\u00a0\u00a0Of the love they shared with us.\u00a0\u00a0Of two people who came from very meager beginnings to buy a house and generously raise three children.\u00a0\u00a0Of love that helped me to understand what overpowering love was, and is.\u00a0\u00a0Their love, for all of us, and so many others, was an example to help me understand the love of God.<\/p>\n
As I look back, though for my early years I did not know, I was never alone.\u00a0\u00a0I have always been loved.\u00a0\u00a0By grandparents and my parents and by aunts and uncles, and all that love led me to my bride whom has loved me through so many years, so many successes and too many failures.\u00a0\u00a0I have been loved.\u00a0\u00a0It was her and I facing life and then we found that we were not a two strand cord, but a three strand cord as we came to walk not only with each other but also with Jesus our Savior and Lord.\u00a0\u00a0My parents started off as a two strand cord, and then became a three strand cord with Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0My bride and I started out as a two strand cord and also became a three strand cord.\u00a0\u00a0For both of my parents and for my wife and I we learned how much stronger, how unbreakable is a three stand cord when the strongest cord is Jesus.<\/p>\n
This has been a difficult time with many loved relatives and friends passing on.\u00a0\u00a0My brother reflected that the last four years have been very difficult for him.\u00a0\u00a0He is looking at the sale of my parents\u2019 house as a new beginning.\u00a0\u00a0A time for new beginnings.\u00a0\u00a0His thought reminded me that seasons change, it is the way of life.\u00a0\u00a0During the night as memories flooded through me it would have been easy to mourn over the many memories.\u00a0\u00a0But the Lord reminded me that He is interwoven within me and always has been.\u00a0\u00a0He reminded me that I was always loved and He was with me to keep me through the very difficult times.\u00a0\u00a0He was with me to make my wife and I a three strand cord.\u00a0\u00a0Now, as I look at the two keys on keychain, I remember the third key that I have, the one given to me by Jesus, the keys to heaven.\u00a0\u00a0My heart is light.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t mourn the memories I celebrate them.\u00a0\u00a0I am thankful for them.\u00a0\u00a0They are testimonies of God\u2019s ever present love to me.\u00a0\u00a0I am thankful for the third key that belongs to my Father\u2019s house and is the one I will never have to pass on.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t have two keys, I have three, and the one from Jesus, the one to my Father\u2019s house, I will always have.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!\u00a0\u00a0Isn\u2019t He so good!\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ecclesiastes 4:12\u00a0–\u00a0Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.\u00a0\u00a0A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Yesterday I gave my keys to my parents\u2019 house to the buyer\u2019s real estate agent.\u00a0\u00a0The buyer had completed her final walk through of the house, but asked if I would wait for her parents, from another country,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[89,94,1874,17],"class_list":["post-1863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-ecclesiastes","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1863"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1864,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863\/revisions\/1864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}