Sunday Mornin' Hope : You're the devil!

How will they remember you?

From 1998 to 2008 I was in one of our church's dramas that took place each Halloween. It's a play called "Heaven or Hell" and people come from all over the area to see it. It's actually a pretty big production with over a hundred in the cast and workers. Usually it runs for a week, but our first year here it ran four weeks and over 1200 people gave their hearts to Jesus. In previous productions, the person that played satan often got sick or hurt. So I volunteered myself to play the part. After one of the productions I was getting on an elevator in the local hospital, when a little old nurse stood next to me. She leaned over and smiled as she whispered "You're the devil!" We both laughed for a few minutes and I shared some of the highlights from the drama. In the drama I wore lots of make up, a cape, and horns on my head; but she saw thru it all. At first it was kinda tough, flattering, and embarrassing when people recognized me in Walmart and made remarks.


How will people remember you? What will your family remember of how you spent your time?

Last week I got a note on Facebook "Is this Dino that had a music store?" A clerk in the bank asked me "Aren't you the one with the motorcycle?" People are constantly recording you. What and how you ride creates an impression on them. Do you ride like a boy with too much testosterone, cutting them off and telling them they're 'number 1' ? Or are you courteous when you ride? Do you settle back and enjoy the freedom of no cage around you? Tonight I went for a ride to air out my brain. At a stoplight a young one with a sports car and loud mufflers pulled up next to me. When it turned green he floored it and pulled in front of me just as it became a single lane. It didn't bother me a bit. I was enjoying the breeze.


How do friends and strangers see you? How will they remember you when you're gone? Remember the story "Scrooge" and how he got to see/hear what people thought of him? I'm not too sure I'd want to go thru that. I've said and done alot of stupid things in my life. In Romans 7 Paul talks about his own struggles. He says the very things he hates the most, he can't stop doing. And the good things he wants to do, he never does. Kinda sounds like us doesn't in? I see myself falling into bad habits alot, and I usually know the outcome before it happens. Paul is basically saying "I don't want to do that. I have to stop doing this. When will I ever break all these bad habits?"


21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?


The Romans would make sport of their prisoners. They would chain a dead rotting man onto the back of a live prisoner just to see how long he would live. Paul is comparing his old life to that rotting corpse. His intentions are good, but the follow thru is lacking. But then Paul brings hope in Romans 8:1.


THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. (amplified version)


So there is hope for us. No one is perfect. We strive to do the right and let God direct us. Sure we'll fail and do it wrong some of the time. But there will be times of doing it right too. Thomas Edison tried 6000 different types of plants and metals before succeeding with the light bulb.

The tiny phonographs inside Edison’s talking dolls were too fragile for the doll to become a commercial success. (Edison National Historic Site 29.140/4)


I hope you will be remembered for the great things you've done in your life. Sometimes just 'being there' is great. Your family and friends don't expect perfection all the time. You don't always have to have the answer. I like it when a close friend just listens. Maybe you will be remembered for some outstanding feat. Maybe not. Maybe you'll be remembered for being a friend.


There's an old song "What a friend we have in Jesus" that tells us we can come to Jesus anytime. He said 'I call you friends.' I hope you'll be remembered too as a friend.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=315W9d2GYCo

i will be remembered as the jack all trades and master of none , right now , i'm known as the man who plays with pop cans , lol , thanks dino

Thanks Dino! Right on the money as usual.

Great one! Great job! Thank you...

Good One Dino. That makes you think a little.--------