Mark's Remarks 11/30

In his book, The Case for Christ, Lee Strobel, tells of his conversation with Dr. Gary Habermas,
professor of theology and philosophy and author of numerous books and articles. The question Strobel posed concerned the importance of the Resurrection for Christians. He assumed he would get a stock answer about its centrality to the faith. And he did. But he got something more. Habermas went into a reflective mood in which he referred to the death of his wife Debbie in 1995 of stomach cancer. This is how Strobel describes it:"I sat on our porch," [Habermas] began, looking off to the side at nothing in particular .... My wife was upstairs dying. Except for a few weeks, she was home through it all. It was an awful time. This was the worst thing that could possibly happen."He turned and looked straight at me. "But do you know what was amazing? My students would call me ... and say, 'At a time like this, aren't you glad about the Resurrection?' As sober as those
circumstances were, I had to smile for two reasons. First, my students were trying to cheer me up with my own teaching. And second, it worked."As I would sit there, I'd picture Job, who went through all that terrible stuff and asked questions of God, but then God turned the tables and asked him a few questions."I knew if God were to come to me, I'd ask only one question: 'Lord, why is Debbie up there in bed?' And I think God would respond by asking gently, 'Gary, did I raise my Son from the dead?'"I'd say, 'Come on, Lord, I've written seven books on that topic! Of course he was raised from the dead. But I want to know about Debbie!'"I think he'd keep coming back to the same question - 'Did I raise my Son from the dead?' - until I got his point: The Resurrection says that if Jesus was raised 2,000 years ago, there's an answer to Debbie's death in 1995. And do you know what? ... If the Resurrection would get me through that, it can get me through anything. It was good for A.D. 30, and it's good for 1995; it's good for 1998, and it's good beyond that .... I believe that with all my heart. If there's a resurrection, there's a heaven. If Jesus was raised, Debbie was raised. And I will be someday, too. Then I'll see them both."

This, being the first Sunday of Advent, the emphasis is HOPE. We are people of joyous hope and great expectation! We anticipate with joy the coming of Christ, at Christmas, in our daily lives, and at the time of our demise.

The last words humans addressed to God that are recorded in the Bible: "Even so come, Lord Jesus." --Revelation 22:20