A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation.
Rose arrangement
(photo by Doris High)
Tonight Brooksyne and I will be going to a sweetheart banquet with other ministers in our area.
Listen to this message on your audio player. “When David had served God’s purpose in his own generation he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed” (Acts 13:36).
Last night we replaced our aging laptop computer and I consider chapters in my life based on computers beginning with my very first computer, a used XT-286 machine (similar to the one pictured). I read that the XT was initially priced at $8,000 when it first came out in 1983. That was for the deluxe version with 640 KB RAM, 10 MB HDD and a color monitor! Now we are on our 7th desktop and 4th laptop. And the new models are practically light years away in capability. For instance our new laptop has 2GB RAM and a 160GB hard drive.
In Michael W. Smith’s song “Friends” there’s a line that states, “A chapter in your life is through.” Consider your life’s journey as a series of chapters. You can do this in a variety of ways such relational, vocational or geography.
I’ve had several long chapters based on where I have lived such as my childhood in the Kansas City area, my college years in Springfield Missouri, and my years of pastoral ministry in St. Marys, Pennsylvania and Taunton, Massachusetts. For seven years now we’ve lived here in Lancaster County, serving in chaplaincy and developing this internet ministry.
As in a book, the chapters of our life are intertwined. I am grateful that there are recipients of this devotional from each chapter in my life; my family, a 1st grade friend, college friends, people who were in our churches, right up to those whom I have met just recently. If you think about it, you have people like that in your life as well don’t you? I sure hope so!
Each chapter in our life is a part of the overall fulfillment of God’s purpose. Consider the daily text. In the historical books we have a lot of information on David. In fact perhaps apart from Moses, we have more biographical information on David than any other Old Testament personality. But the apostle Paul, preaching in a Jewish synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, makes a simple statement concerning David’s life, “When David had served God’s purpose in his own generation.”
God places us all on this earth for a season, a period of time known as our “own generation.” Like David all of us (except the final generation) will eventually fall asleep (die) and our bodies will decay.
We can live our life for self or in consecration to God’s purpose. Recall the old saying, “Only one life will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.”
Today, let us, like David, seek to serve God’s purpose in our generation in each chapter of life!
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily prayer: Lord, today help me to live my life in a manner that fulfills Your purpose!
Note: Today Brooksyne had an early morning appointment and was unable to help me prepare the message. So please pardon the likelihood of grammar errors and the short prayer!
Yesterday we showed a photo of a farmhouse in illustrating it was good to be back home to Lancaster County, which is quite distinct in scenery from Myrtle Beach South Carolina! Several wondered if the photo was our home. No, it’s our Amish friends, Jesse and Anna. Above is a photo of our present earthly home in the summer time!
Here’s a photo of our new laptop. It will take me several hours to set it up for Brooksyne, loading all the programs we use to prepare these messages and the data. She normally works besides me each morning using a laptop while I use a larger desktop. However this laptop has a 17 inch screen so it’s not much smaller! For history buffs info about the IBM XT, similar to my first computer, is here.
Supplemental Resources
“My Life Is An Offering” (Audio)
“Offering” (Audio)
“The Law Of Rewards” (A thoughtful article on living a life of purpose.) Here’s a quote by Randy Alcorn. “Gather your family and go visit a junkyard or a dump. Look at all the piles of “treasures” that were formerly Christmas and birthday presents. Point out things that people worked long hours to buy and paid hundreds of dollars for, that children quarreled about, friendships were lost over, honesty was sacrificed for, and marriages broke up over. Look at the remnants of gadgets and furnishings that now lie useless after their brief life span. Remind yourself that most of what you own will one day end up in a junkyard like this. And even if it survives on earth for a while, you won’t. . . . When you examine the junkyard, ask yourself this question: ‘When all that I ever owned lies abandoned, broken, useless, and forgotten, what will I have done with my life that will last for eternity?”
These daily encouragement messages are brought to you by Drivers Wellness, an initiative of Transport for Christ.
Transport For Christ (TFC) provides recognizable, consistent and high quality support for drivers and the trucking industry through…
* 24/7 chapels staffed by trained chaplains at strategic travel plazas all across the US and Canada. Here is a listing of our chapels.
* Chaplains available at companies and terminals.
* A national network of churches willing to help truckers in need.
* OTR working drivers trained as chaplains who can help wherever they are.
Our chaplains are prepared to address issues such as…
* conflict resolution
* marriage and family issues
* stress management
* crisis intervention
* spiritual issues
* any other need the chaplain can help with
Transport for Christ is focused on the needs of truck drivers and the trucking industry. If we are capable of meeting a need we will…if not, we will work to find a way!
Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission; and the King James Version.
Drivers Wellness is an initiative of Transport For Christ
“Living securely today anchored in God’s solid foundation”
