What Would You Expect?

My lawn, along with most people’s lawn, has suffered much over the past few years due to the lack of rain. It takes rain to naturally decompose matter into new rich soil, full of nutrients, the natural way to fertilize the old garden. While city water might keep a lawn half way alive, the chlorine and fluoride contained in it have little value and can never replace the nitrogen rich rain water falling from the sky. Well, I decided after thirty years of neglect to help things along last fall by fertilizing my weary lawn, repeating the feeding once during the winter and another application just before the recent rains began. It now looks as though I might wear out all my lawn grooming equipment before the end of summer this year. Like the man says, “Well, what did you expect?” When logic sneaks up on me and slaps me up side the head all I can say is, “Doh!” and move on. It’s been a long time and the rain is very welcome. Praise God!

As they prepared for their final exam in Logic, the college professor offered his students some relief. He told them that they could bring as much information to the exam as they could fit on a piece of notebook paper. Most students crammed as many facts as possible on their 81/2 x 11 inch sheet of paper. One student, named Bob, walked into the exam room, placed a piece of notebook paper on the floor, and had an advanced Logic student stand on the paper. The upper graduate told Bob everything he needed to know, awarding Bob correct answers and the only student to receive an “A”.

If you got in your car and drove in the direction given by a sign that read, “Dallas – 20 Miles”, what would you expect to find after driving twenty miles? * If you passed a sign that warned “Speed Radar Patrolled” and you were driving ten miles an hour over the speed limit when you passed a police cruiser parked on the side of the road, what would you expect to happen? * If you decided to take a class at a local university and the teacher handed out copies of a syllabus that stated there would be a total of three tests in the coming semester, what would you expect? * If you stood before a preacher and a group of witnesses promising to love and remain with the person beside you until one of you died, and both of you were still alive in ten years, what would you expect?

[2Peter 2:20-22] A life insurance salesman was unable to persuade a couple to purchase a policy. “I certainly don’t want to frighten you into a decision,” he said as he got up to leave. “Please, sleep on it tonight, and if you wake up in the morning, call me, and let me know what you think.” If you walked into a place where people claim to worship God according to his word, what would you expect? * If you opened your Bible and read its descriptions of Jesus and the salvation from sins for those who repented and resolved to follow him, what would you expect? * If, like Saul of Tarsus, you were immersed in water so your sins would be washed away (Acts 22:1-16), what would you expect? * If you began meeting regularly with a group of Christians and they promised to welcome you among them as a brother/sister, what would you expect? * If you began living in ways similar to the ways you lived before becoming a Christian and stopped meeting with, and associating with, your brothers and sisters in Christ, what would you expect? * If you continued to live a life that led away from God and his people, and you died in that condition, what would you expect? If you were to die tonight, would you know, without a doubt, where you will spend eternity?