Precious Memories | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Precious Memories | Previous Challenge Entry
By Elaine Hemingway
04/21/16
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PRECIOUS MEMORIES.
I remember the day my father died. It was a Sunday and I was thousands of miles away from his hospital bed, but somehow I knew that morning that I must take my leave of him, commending him to the Lord. My husband and I were in Cape Town, South Africa, while he was in Yorkshire, England, and as I spent the early morning quiet time with the Lord I received a showering of peace.
Walking to the church we enjoyed the beautiful autumn weather, the sea breezes gentle, and the gardens along our route colourful under the blue African sky. As we entered for a service so many miles from our home we were greeted not as strangers but as visiting family in the Lord, and we waited expectantly for a special message. It didn’t come in the sermon, because I can’t remember the message, but it came in a time of prayer. Someone stood and shared a vision of seeing Hands held out in greeting, while music played softly on a piano. My husband said afterwards that as he listened to the calming melody, he thought of my dad and the love of music they shared.
Leaving church after the service we said goodbye to new friends and strolled back to the accommodation we had taken for the week-end. The owner greeted us with the news that my brother had phoned with a message. Dad had gone to be with the Lord at the time we were entering the church! What wonderful news amidst the grief that the Lord had welcomed him and he was safely home
How could I be so sure? Because he had considered the gamble he was taking in life on earth, and chose to accept the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Perhaps there are many who have not considered the urgency of cementing their Spiritual faith, but like my father are prepared to go through life in the assumption that they are born in a Christian country, designate themselves as Christian, but yet are prepared to compromise on essential aspects of true faith. I could not rest until the concept was understood by my family, but there was a reluctance to discuss such matters that were not considered as essential. In their eyes I had become an eccentric “holy roller”
Our God is indeed able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20). In answer to prayer my father asked the right questions and was given the right answers.
How many people fail to recognise the essentials of the Pascal wager?
Blaise Pascal, (1623-1662) an Apologetic philosopher, posted the idea that humans bet with their lives either that God exists or that He does not. How true it is that if we live our lives based on recognition that God does indeed exist we have the assurance of an eternal future with everything to gain and nothing to lose. As Pascal argued, a rational person should live as though God exists and seek to believe in Him thus ensuring a profitable future with nothing to lose. The alternative of living without a seeking knowledge of God will have no gains in this life, and everything to lose in eternity if the believer is found to be right.
All praise to my Heavenly Father for answered prayer. May he convict the rest of my loved ones!
Non-fiction
568 words

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