“ Lost In The Shuffle?”

If you’ve ever looked out the window flying into Newark airport, you will see below thousands of houses, big and small, one after another … it doesn’t seem to end…. millions of people. It makes me feel very small. I don’t care if I’m flying coach or first class (rarely) or in a private jet (really rarely)… I feel very small… just one in millions. And then as I exit the plane into the airport and begin walking thru crowds and crowds of people to get my bag or find my ride home…no one knows who I am…I are one in millions of people. I again find it a very humbling experience. 

Even if you’re a BIG SHOT .… it doesn’t last.

• All Glory Is Fleeting: “For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade…., musicians and strange animals from conquered territories… carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. … the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning that all glory is fleeting.” (Gen. George C. Patton)

• Temporal Power Is Fleeting:  “Someone asked me what was the most important thing I had learned since being in Washington. I replied that it was the fact that temporal power is fleeting.” Once driving through the White House gates I saw a man walking alone on Pennsylvania Avenue and recognized him as having been Secretary of State in a previous administration. “There he was alone – no reporters, no security, no adoring public, no trappings of power. Just one solitary man alone with his thoughts. (Former Secretary of State James Baker)

BIG SHOT today, but few remember you tomorrow. Without God, that is our destiny. I saw a statistic that 105 billion people have lived since the beginning of time….. that’s 105,000,000,000 people. I don’t know if that’s an accurate estimate or not, but I know there’s been a lot of people who have lived. I would guess that probably very few were known outside their family and neighbors. 

Yet, in Christ, we are part of the royal family with an inheritance in heaven. God knows us, he knows our name, we are precious to him. (Is. 43:1) He has gone to prepare a place for us and will come again to bring us home. (John 14:2-3) 

Be not afraid. Almighty God ( Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) knows you by name. The creator of the universe knows you and has your back. We have no reason to fear. But let us stay close to the Lord. Let’s be sure we place our lives in his loving arms. 

“If God is for us, who can be against us…. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, …. nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-38)

That’s very good news.