Scripture

“Where I am going, you will not be able to follow, but one day you will.”

~John 13:36, The Passion Bible

Quote

By and by, through the shining portals, Turning our feet, We shall walk, with the glad immortals, Heav’n’s golden street.

~Mary B. Slade

This is Jesus speaking to His disciples prior to the crucifixion. He told them in verse 31, “God will be greatly glorified through what happens to Me.” I am sure He was referring to His crucifixion. Then He tells them He is going away, and they cannot follow Him. I understand the context but for a moment, I want to take this scripture out of its context. It amazes me how God speaks to me through His word. I feel guilty about my walk with Christ. I am trying to follow but at times it seems impossible. Jesus words, “You will not be able to follow,” have a prophetic ring to my ear. If you were to asks me today, “Bro. Jack, have you followed Jesus?” Honestly, I would have to say, “how closely?” Yes, I have followed but how well have I followed? How close have I been to Jesus? Is it possible for me to get closer and more in step? Personally, I know there is room for vast improvement. Yeah, I know, too much introspection leads to self-pity and depression, and I want nothing to do with either, but at the same time, I am grieved that my walk with Jesus has not been what it ought to be.

The good news is the last part of the verse…one day you will...O glory hallelujah! One day, maybe soon, I will be walking in lock step, in perfect harmony.  He will glorify me and give me a body that has no tendency to sin. He will save me from my sinful nature and my wretched self, and I will walk in perfect harmony with my Savior singing amazing grace. Augustine relates peace and joy to God’s perfect order. In other words, God has a perfect system or order, and sin is a deviation from that perfect order. Heaven will be a place of peace and joy because everyone there will be in harmony with God’s order. He says in fact, “The peace of the heavenly City lies in its perfectly ordered and harmonious communion of those who find their joy in God {Jesus}.”

Extra

We had to reorder our steps for today. Got the call from Mississippi about 5:00 pm yesterday so June and I are headed to Harperville, Mississippi around noon. I want to get the tires checked before we leave and June has some errands to run. The COLS is at noon so we should be back tomorrow night around 7:00. We are a part of the COLS for Dee Eddy who was murdered in her home two weeks ago. She was shot, raped and then set on fire. Dee was a soft spoken and unassuming type. Very kind and gentle. I never knew her to say or do anything to hurt someone else. She has one daughter and two grand daughters.

Junior Hill

We had Junior for revival at Cherokee in 1975. Junior asks me if we could do a tent meeting and invite other churches. We did and we able to get four churches to participate. Had a great meeting with 85 professions of faith. The Minister of Music from first Baptist Cherokee lead the music, I think his name was Tom Windsor and he did a good job but he invited a gospel quartet to sing on Tuesday night and they were suppose to sing two songs. Of course, they had an ego problem and were offended that they were asks to do only two songs. Immediately, they tried to capture the audience and turn the meeting into a gospel singing hoedown. Of course I was having a fit on the inside and thank goodness Windsor got them by the coat tail and got them to exit the stage mumbling has they went. Junior got up and preached and the invitation went well. That night Junior did not say one word about the service or the quartet, so I didn’t mention it either. The next night Junior and I road together to the meeting and on the way Junior said, “Jack, will Jake and the Blasphemers be back tonight?” I said, “No, Junior they will not be present.” {Next week I will tell you one about Junior and Earl Jacobs}