by Pastor Cecil | Oct 25, 2013 | Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 3:11
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Years ago I heard a minister tell of an incident in a hospital elevator where he had just come from visiting a very ill patient. A young man overheard him speak about eternity and, perhaps wanting to mock his view, asked the minister where eternity was. The minister told the boy to place his hand on his chest to feel the beat of his heart. “Young man, eternity is one heartbeat away!” That may answer where eternity is or at least how close we are to it, but just how long is eternity?
Our daughter was in the hospital near death. One afternoon as the two of us spoke quietly, she said she felt she was cheated out of half of her life. She went on to say that grandpa was 74 when he died and here she was just 35.
That evening as I drove into the garage I noticed that the car had been bringing in sand. I took out a sheet of typing paper and swept up some of the sand. I then sat at the kitchen table and counted out 74 grains. Some were larger than others, but all of them were quite small. I placed the 74 grains of sand in a tiny sample perfume bottle.
The next day as I entered her room I placed the bottle on her bed. When she asked what it was I told her it was grandpa. I asked her to imagine the earth being nothing but fine sand. Each grain represented one year of eternity. The 74 grains in the bottle represented grandpa’s life. Compared to the entire globe of sand it was nothing. Whether a person’s life lasted long or short, compared to eternity it was nothing.
It is what we do with the years we are given that matters. We can choose to confess our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior or we can continue our own willful way and suffer the dreadful consequences prepared for the lost.
I pray that the video that accompanies today’s Daily-E-Votional will assist you in making the right choice. Please feel free to share it with others while there is still time.
To view the video The Sands of Eternity, go to www.PastorCecil.com
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | May 24, 2013 | Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 3:11
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Years ago I heard a minister tell of an incident in a hospital elevator where he had just come from visiting a very ill patient. A young man overheard him speak about eternity and, perhaps wanting to mock his view, asked the minister where eternity was. The minister told the boy to place his hand on his chest to feel the beat of his heart. Young man, eternity is one heartbeat away! That may answer where eternity is or at least how close we are to it, but just how long is eternity?
Our daughter was in the hospital near death. One afternoon as the two of us spoke quietly, she said she felt she was cheated out of half of her life. She went on to say that grandpa was 74 when he died and here she was just 35.
That evening as I drove into the garage I noticed that the car had been bringing in sand. I took out a sheet of typing paper and swept up some of the sand. I then sat at the kitchen table and counted out 74 grains. Some were larger than others, but all of them were quite small. I placed the 74 grains of sand in a tiny sample perfume bottle.
The next day as I entered her room I placed the bottle on her bed. When she asked what it was I told her it was grandpa. I asked her to imagine the earth being nothing but fine sand. Each grain represented one year of eternity. The 74 grains in the bottle represented grandpa’s life. Compared to the entire globe of sand it was nothing. Whether a person’s life lasted long or short, compared to eternity it was nothing.
It is what we do with the years we are given that matters. We can choose to confess our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior or we can continue our own willful way and suffer the dreadful consequences prepared for the lost.
I pray that the video that accompanies today’s Daily-E-Votional will assist you in making the right choice. Please feel free to share it with others while there is still time.
To view the video, The Sands of Eternity, go to www.PastorCecil.com
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Mar 20, 2013 | Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck what is planted.
Some of you may recall that I was a Combat Missile Crew Commander back in my Air Force days. At that time I was stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. Our squadron had five launch centers (buried deep underground) and each center controlled at least ten nuclear missiles assigned to it.
This was a tense time in our world and the threat of nuclear warfare was always a very real concern. Our launch sequences had to be perfectly coordinated with the other centers in our Squadron as well as other outside units.
One of the many steps in coordinating a potential retaliatory response, if we were attacked, was to insure that everyone involved had the same time, to the very second. Our clock in the Capsule was accurate, but each day at midnight we would tune to Radio Station WWV in Fort Collins, Colorado. They would transmit the accurate time and we would insure that our clocks were precisely set.
Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us that there are specific times in our life that are designated for its own purpose. We must never deviate from the Word of God. In a world with divergent voices that try to spout wisdom, there is only one source of accurate truth and that is our Bible. I urge each of you to spend more time than ever reading and heeding what God has inspired the writers of Scripture to record.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Sep 14, 2012 | Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 3:11
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Years ago I heard a minister tell of an incident in a hospital elevator where he had just come from visiting a very ill patient. A young man overheard him speak about eternity and, perhaps wanting to mock his view, asked the minister where eternity was. The minister told the boy to place his hand on his chest to feel the beat of his heart. “Young man, eternity is one heartbeat away!” That may answer where eternity is or at least how close we are to it, but just how long is eternity?
Our daughter was in the hospital near death. One afternoon as the two of us spoke quietly, she said she felt she was cheated out of half of her life. She went on to say that Grandpa was 74 when he died and here she was just 35.
That evening as I drove into the garage I noticed that the car had been bringing in sand. I took out a sheet of typing paper and swept up some of the sand. I then sat at the kitchen table and counted out 74 grains. Some were larger than others, but all of them were quite small. I placed the 74 grains of sand in a tiny sample perfume bottle.
The next day as I entered her room I placed the bottle on her bed. When she asked what it was I told her it was Grandpa. I asked her to imagine the earth being nothing but fine sand. Each grain represented one year of eternity. The 74 grains in the bottle represented Grandpa’s life. Compared to the entire globe of sand it was nothing. Whether a person’s life lasted long or short, compared to eternity it was nothing.
It is what we do with the years we are given that matters. We can choose to confess our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior or we can continue our own willful way and suffer the dreadful consequences prepared for the lost.
I pray that the video that accompanies today’s Daily-E-Votional will assist you in making the right choice. Please feel free to share it with others while there is still time.
To view the video The Sands of Eternity, go to www.PastorCecil.com.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
360-570-0074
PastorCecil@Daily-E-Votional.com
P.S. – You can find previous E-Votionals covering a variety of Scriptures and topics to help you in your walk with the Lord at www.Daily-E-Votional.com.
P.P.S. – My book, 100 of Pastor Cecil’s Select Illustrations, is available on Kindle books. Just go to the Kindle store and type in Pastor Cecil’s Select Illustrations, or Pastor Cecil Thompson.
by Pastor Cecil | Sep 5, 2012 | Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 4:6
Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.
Recently we witnessed the devastating force of hurricane Isaac that left thousands homeless and facing an uncertain future. It is possible that many will never be able to return to their homes. Do you feel as if you are being churned in the middle of a storm? What will it take to bring peace and tranquility to your heart?
Every time I am tempted to feel that I am enduring too much turmoil in my life, I stop and consider the apostle Paul. What did he endure for the sake of the Gospel? He was lashed, beaten with rods, stoned three times, ship wrecked, adrift on the open sea, and constantly on the move. Not an easy life was it?
These are only a few of the things Paul endured. He had a thorn in the flesh that God allowed him to experience in order to teach him total dependence. He endured all of these things with a joy that can only come from the Lord. Tranquility is not that the storms will always be calm, but that we will find peace in the middle of the storms.
We all need to find tranquility in the most violent of storms. It is not what we have done or must do—it is what Christ has already done for us. Rather than seeking more and more of the “things” of life, we must seek more and more of the Lord. The answer to tranquility is always the same—Jesus!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Mar 5, 2012 | Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 7:14
When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.
I think there was a movie with the title of today’s E-Votional. I did not see it and so I have no way to tie the two together except by title. The one thing I do know is that there are good times, bad times and downright ugly times that we encounter in this life.
I have mentioned from time to time about some Christians who look and act like they had been baptized in vinegar. They speak of joy in their heart, but it never quite reaches their face. Sad to say this is the impression many unbelievers have of the Christian life.
I once heard a Seminary professor react to these sour believers. He said it was almost like the Lord was looking over the parapets of heaven observing a Christian with a smile of joy. The Lord asks; “Are you having fun?” The Christian responds that he was. The booming voice of the Lord resounded; “STOP IT!” That is not what the Christian life is all about.
God’s people should be the happiest and most radiant people in the world. With heaven to gain and hell to lose, we pass over the bad times and the ugly situations of this life by visualizing the joys that await us in our heavenly home. Across the ages, even in some areas of our modern world, God’s people have placed their lives on the line and been tortured and killed. In the face of death they have radiated the joy of the Lord. That’s the kind of joy I desire in my life!
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today. Trust Him completely and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
P.S. – Please take a look at PastorCecil.com.
