Keepers!

An unknown, but thought-provoking author has written:

"I grew up in the forties and fifties with practical parents:

A Mother... God love her, who washed aluminum foil after she cooked in it, then reused it. She was the original recycle queen, before they had a name for it.

A Father... who was happier getting old shoes fixed than buying new ones. Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away.

I can see them now, Dad in trousers, tee shirt and a hat and Mom in a house dress, lawn mower in one hand, and dish-towel in the other. It was the time for fixing things: a curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress. Things we keep. It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All that re-fixing, re-heating, renewing; I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there'd always be MORE!

But then my father died, and on that clear summer's night, in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any MORE!  Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away... never to return. So, while we have it... it's best we love it... and care for it... and fix it when it's broken... and heal it when it's sick. This is true: for marriage... and old cars... and children with bad report cards... and dogs with bad hips... and aging parents... and grandparents.  We keep them because THEY are worth it, because WE are worth it.

Some things we KEEP!  Like a best friend that moved away or a classmate we grew up with.  There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special... and so, we keep them close!" *

I’ve got some GOOD NEWS for you!  God thinks YOU and I are "keepers."  
Even though we sin and fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23), He loves us and wants 
to save us and keep us.  He even gave His Son to die on our behalf on a cross to pay the price for our redemption (Ephesians 1:7).  "Knowing that you were NOT redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter 1:18-19).

God wants to keep us eternally, but we MUST accept His offer.  He will redeem those who will believe in Jesus (Acts 16:31), repent of their sins (Acts 17:30-31), confess His Son before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  He will CONTINUE to keep those who CONTINUE to follow Him (1 John 1:7).

God wants YOU – for keeps!  Won't you accept His offer?

God bless you!

David A. Sargent, Minister 

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

* Author Unknown

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