Isaiah 59:1-19 Listen now! The Lord isn’t too weak to save you. And he isn’t getting deaf! He can hear you when you call! But the trouble is that your sins have cut you off from God. Because of sin he has turned his face away from you and will not listen anymore. For your hands are those of murderers and your fingers are filthy with sin. You lie and grumble and oppose the good. No one cares about being fair and true. Your lawsuits are based on lies; you spend your time plotting evil deeds and doing them. You spend your time and energy in spinning evil plans that end up in deadly actions. You cheat and shortchange everyone. Everything you do is filled with sin; violence is your trademark. Your feet run to do evil and rush to murder; your thoughts are only of sinning, and wherever you go you leave behind a trail of misery and death. You don’t know what true peace is, nor what it means to be just and good; you continually do wrong and those who follow you won’t experience any peace either. It is because of all this evil that you aren’t finding God’s blessings; that’s why he doesn’t punish those who injure you. No wonder you are in darkness when you expected light. No wonder you are walking in the gloom. No wonder you grope like blind men and stumble along in broad daylight, yes, even at brightest noontime, as though it were the darkest night! No wonder you are like corpses when compared with vigorous young men! You roar like hungry bears; you moan with mournful cries like doves. You look for God to keep you, but he doesn’t. He has turned away. For your sins keep piling up before the righteous God and testify against you. Yes, we know what sinners we are. We know our disobedience; we have denied the Lord our God. We know what rebels we are and how unfair we are, for we carefully plan our lies. Our courts oppose the righteous man; fairness is unknown. Truth falls dead in the streets, and justice is outlawed. Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who tries a better life is soon attacked. The Lord saw all the evil and was displeased to find no steps taken against sin. He saw no one was helping you and wondered that no one intervened. Therefore he himself stepped in to save you through his mighty power and justice. He put on righteousness as armor and the helmet of salvation on his head. He clothed himself with robes of vengeance and of godly fury. He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds—fury for his foes in distant lands. Then at last they will reverence and glorify the name of God from west to east. For he will come like a flood tide driven by Jehovah’s breath. https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=6912617385068819777

From Charles H. Spurgeon "Man ... is of few days, and full of trouble." — Job 14:1 ~ It may be of great service to us, before we fall asleep, to remember this mournful fact, for it may lead us to set loose by earthly things. There is nothing very pleasant in the recollection that we are not above the shafts of adversity, but it may humble us and prevent our boasting like the Psalmist in our morning's portion. "My mountain standeth firm: I shall never be moved." It may stay us from taking too deep root in this soil from which we are so soon to be transplanted into the heavenly garden. Let us recollect the frail tenure upon which we hold our temporal mercies. If we would remember that all the trees of earth are marked for the woodman's axe, we should not be so ready to build our nests in them. We should love, but we should love with the love which expects death, and which reckons upon separations. Our dear relations are but loaned to us, and the hour when we must return them to the lender's hand may be even at the door. The like is certainly true of our worldly goods. Do not riches take to themselves wings and fly away? Our health is equally precarious. Frail flowers of the field, we must not reckon upon blooming for ever. There is a time appointed for weakness and sickness, when we shall have to glorify God by suffering, and not by earnest activity.

March 23 George Friedrich Handel known for his - Handel's oratorio "Messiah". George Friedrich Handel's oratorio "Messiah" was first played in London on March 23, 1743. It was attended by King George II. The King who was so moved by the “Hallelujah” chorus that he rose to his feet and then everyone in attendance followed suit as not to be sitting when the King stood. A tradition ever since is observed whenever the "Hallelujah" chorus is played. After he wrote the "Hallelujah" chorus, Handel was quoted as saying, "I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself." George Frideric Handel was born on 23 February 1685 (the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti) in Halle, Duchy of Magdeburg - Germany. His parents were Georg Händel and Dorothea Taust. His father was an eminent barber surgeon who served the court of Saxe-Weissenfels and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. The Thirty Years' War brought extensive destruction to Halle, and by the 1680s it was impoverished. From an early age, Handel longed to study music, but his father objected, doubting that music would be a realistic source of income. Infact, his father would not even permit him to own a musical instrument. George studied law until 1703, even though his father (who finally allowed his son to take music lessons at age 9) died when he was 11. His mother, however, was supportive, and she encouraged him to develop his musical talent. With her cooperation, Handel took to practicing on the sly. Handel attended the Gymnasium in Halle, where the headmaster, Johann Praetorius, was reputed to be an ardent musician. When Handel was still a young boy, he had the opportunity to play the organ for the duke’s court in Weissenfels. It was there that Handel met composer and organist Frideric Wilhelm Zachow. Zachow was impressed with Handel’s potential and invited Handel to become his pupil. Under Zachow's tutelage, Handel mastered composing for the organ, the oboe and the violin alike by the time he was 10 years old. By age 12, Handel was substituting for his organ teacher and had written his first composition. From the age of 11 to the time he was 16 or 17, Handel composed church cantatas and chamber music that, being written for a small audience, failed to garner much attention and have since been lost to time. In 1703, when Handel was 18 years old, he decided to commit himself completely to music, accepting a violinist’s position at the Hamburg Opera’s Goose Market Theater. During this time, he supplemented his income by teaching private music lessons in his free time, passing on what he had learned from Zachow. After musical studies in Germany and Italy, Handel worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy. Handel moved to England in 1712 and became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He stayed for the rest of his life in London and became a composer for the Chapel Royal. By the 1730s, British audiences had grown tired of operas sung in German or Italian and preferred comedic performances in English. This was good for Handel, who struggled to keep his creditors away, and led him to push himself to the limit by composing four operas within the same year. As a result, Handel suffered a stroke in the spring of 1737 that paralyzed his right arm. The doctor who treated him said, “We may save the man—but the musician is lost forever. It seems to me that his brain has been permanently injured.” His fans worried that he would never compose again. But Handel refused to give up. After only six weeks of recuperation in Aix-la-Chapelle, Handel was fully recovered. He surprised everyone when he miraculously recovered his strength and declared, “I have come back from Hades.” He went back to London and not only returned to composing, but made a comeback at playing the organ as well. In 1741, swimming in debt and out of favor as a composer, Handel received a libretto from Charles Jennens, a poet and a scholar of Handel’s day with whom he had worked previously. The words to the piece are a distillation of Christian doctrine, using scripture references, the libretto detailed the life of Jesus Christ from His birth and ministry to His crucifixion and resurrection. Jennens wrote to counteract all of the secular thinking of the day and teach those who preferred concert halls to church pews the rudiments of the Christian message. He drew his text from the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. For Jennens and Handel, "Messiah" would be an evangelistic tool to share the gospel with the masses. Handel lived at his rented house # 25 Brook Street, in the Mayfair district of London. On August 22, 56-year-old Handel sequestered himself in his London home and began to compose music to the biblical texts heralding the life of Jesus Christ. For more than a week, his servant faithfully waited on his employer Handel, and served appealing meals to the composer, and returned later to find the bowls and platters largely untouched. The servant knew his master Handel as an eccentric composer, who spent hour after hour isolated in his own room. One day the servant opened the door of the composer’s room and was startled to see tears streaming down his master Handle's face. The great composer turned to his servant and cried out, ‘I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself.’ In just 24 days the great composer Handel completed a 260-page oratorio. He titled the massive work "Messiah". Handel wrote the Messiah for the Easter holiday but the music got quickly pegged for Christmas performances. The Handel's Messiah oratorio tells three stories: the first part prophesied the birth of Jesus Christ; the second exalted his sacrifice for humankind; and the final section heralded his Resurrection. The first part is sung at Christmas and the second and final at Easter, with the Hallelujah Chorus being sung both times. Handel told the sponsors of the premier performance of Messiah in Dublin, Ireland, on April 13, 1742, that the proceeds from the performance should be donated to prisoners, orphans and the sick. “I have myself been a very sick man, and am now cured,” he said. “I was prisoner and have been set free.” Six years later that is in 1743, Handel suffered a second springtime stroke. However, he stunned audiences once again with a speedy recovery, followed by a prolific stream of ambitious oratorios. Handel’s three-act oratorio Samson, which premiered in London in 1743, reflected how Handel related to the character’s blindness through his own firsthand experience with the progressive degeneration of his sight: Total eclipse! no sun, no moon. All dark amidst the blaze of noon. Oh glorious light! no cheering ray To glad my eyes with welcome day. By 1750, Handel had entirely lost sight in his left eye. He forged on, however, composing the oratorio Jephtha, which also contained a reference to obscured vision. In 1752 Handel lost sight in his other eye and was rendered completely blind. As always before, Handel’s passionate pursuit of music propelled him forward. He kept on performing and composing, relying on his sharp memory to compensate when necessary, and remained actively involved in productions of his work until his dying day. Over the course of his musical career, Handel, exhausted by stress, endured a number of potentially debilitating problems with his physical health. He is also believed to have suffered from anxiety and depression. Yet somehow, Handel, who was known to laugh in the face of adversity, remained virtually undeterred in his determination to keep making music. On April 14, 1759, at the age of 74, Handel died on the day before Easter 1759, hoping to "meet his good God, his sweet Lord and Savior, on the day of his Resurrection. Handel was buried in Westminster Abbey a week after he died. Around 3000 people attended his funeral service. "A close friend remarked, "He died as he lived—a good Christian, with a true sense of his duty to God and to man, and in perfect charity with all the world." Handel was known for being a generous man, even in death. Having never married or fathered children, his will divided his assets among his servants and several charities, including the Foundling Hospital. He even donated the money to pay for his own funeral so that none of his loved ones would bear the financial burden. His music was admired by Classical-era composers, especially Mozart and Beethoven. Handel composed more than forty opera serias over a period of more than thirty years. The musicologist Winton Dean wrote that "Handel was not only a great composer; he was a dramatic genius of the first order." The works that associate Handel most closely with Westminster Abbey are the four anthems written for the coronation of George II in 1727. The best known, 'Zadok the Priest', has been used at every coronation since then, but all four continue to be regularly performed and recorded. A number of hymnal editors, including Lowell Mason, took themes from some of Handel's oratorios and turned them into hymn tunes; ANTIOCH is one example, long associated with “Joy to the World.” George Frideric Handel's Messiah was originally an Easter offering. It burst onto the stage of Musick Hall in Dublin on April 13, 1742. The men and women in attendance sat mesmerized from the moment the tenor followed the mournful string overture with his piercing opening line: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God." Soloists alternated with wave upon wave of chorus, until, near the midway point, Cibber intoned: "He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." So moved was the Rev. Patrick Delany that he leapt to his feet and cried out: "Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven thee!" In most of Handel's oratorios, the soloists dominate and the choir sings only brief choruses. But in Messiah, says Laurence Cummings, director of the London Handel Orchestra, "the chorus propels the work forward with great emotional impact and uplifting messages." Some 40 years after Messiah’s premiere, English musicologist Charles Burney wrote, “This great work has been heard in all parts of the kingdom with increasing reverence and delight; it has fed the hungry, clothed the naked, fostered the orphan and enriched succeeding managers of the oratorios, more than any single production in this or any other country.” Handel placed a note on his original manuscript that read “To God alone the glory,” "He [Handel] would frequently declare the pleasure he felt in setting the Scriptures to music, and how contemplating the many sublime passages in the Psalms had contributed to his edification." —Sir John Hawkins Ludwig van Beethoven considered Handel was the greatest of all his predecessors; he said, "I would bare my head and kneel at his grave". Citing Messiah, Beethoven said Handel was the "greatest composer that ever lived." Handle's Hallelujah chorus is one of the best and all time played and sung across the churches. "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ, and of His Christ; And He shall reign for ever and ever, King of kings, and Lord of lords. King of kings, and Lord of lords. King of kings, and Lord of lords, and Lord of lords, and He shall reign, and He shall reign for ever and ever, for ever and ever, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! And He shall reign for ever and ever, for ever and ever. King of kings! and Lord of lords! King of kings! and Lord of lords! And He shall reign for ever and ever, King of kings! and Lord of lords! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-glorious-history-of-handels-messiah-148168540/ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Frideric_Handel https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.biography.com/.amp/musician/george-handel https://philharmonia.org/learn-and-listen/baroque-composers/george-frideric-handel/ https://hymnary.org/person/Handel_GF https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/george-frederic-handel https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/musiciansartistsandwriters/george-frideric-handel.html https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/musiciansartistsandwriters/george-frideric-handel.html http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Handel%2C%20George%20Frideric%2C%201685%2D1759 https://youtu.be/IUZEtVbJT5c

Living Bible Isaiah 59:1-21 Listen now! The Lord isn’t too weak to save you. And he isn’t getting deaf! He can hear you when you call! But the trouble is that your sins have cut you off from God. Because of sin he has turned his face away from you and will not listen anymore. For your hands are those of murderers and your fingers are filthy with sin. You lie and grumble and oppose the good. No one cares about being fair and true. Your lawsuits are based on lies; you spend your time plotting evil deeds and doing them. You spend your time and energy in spinning evil plans that end up in deadly actions. You cheat and shortchange everyone. Everything you do is filled with sin; violence is your trademark. Your feet run to do evil and rush to murder; your thoughts are only of sinning, and wherever you go you leave behind a trail of misery and death. You don’t know what true peace is, nor what it means to be just and good; you continually do wrong and those who follow you won’t experience any peace either. It is because of all this evil that you aren’t finding God’s blessings; that’s why he doesn’t punish those who injure you. No wonder you are in darkness when you expected light. No wonder you are walking in the gloom. No wonder you grope like blind men and stumble along in broad daylight, yes, even at brightest noontime, as though it were the darkest night! No wonder you are like corpses when compared with vigorous young men! You roar like hungry bears; you moan with mournful cries like doves. You look for God to keep you, but he doesn’t. He has turned away. For your sins keep piling up before the righteous God and testify against you. Yes, we know what sinners we are. We know our disobedience; we have denied the Lord our God. We know what rebels we are and how unfair we are, for we carefully plan our lies. Our courts oppose the righteous man; fairness is unknown. Truth falls dead in the streets, and justice is outlawed. Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who tries a better life is soon attacked. The Lord saw all the evil and was displeased to find no steps taken against sin. He saw no one was helping you and wondered that no one intervened. Therefore he himself stepped in to save you through his mighty power and justice. He put on righteousness as armor and the helmet of salvation on his head. He clothed himself with robes of vengeance and of godly fury. He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds—fury for his foes in distant lands. Then at last they will reverence and glorify the name of God from west to east. For he will come like a flood tide driven by Jehovah’s breath. He will come as a Redeemer to those in Zion who have turned away from sin. “As for me, this is my promise to them,” says the Lord: “My Holy Spirit shall not leave them, and they shall want the good and hate the wrong—they and their children and their children’s children forever.”

MY POEM ON "A PSALM OF LIFE." Tell me not in mournful numbers, "Life is but an empty dream!" For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem. Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; "Dust thou art, to dust returnest," Was not spoken of the soul. Not enjoyment and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way, But to act, that each tomorrow, Find us farther than today. Art is long, and time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums, are beating, Funeral marches to the grave. In the world's broad field of battle, In the bivouac of life, Be not like dumb, driven cattle! Be a hero in that strife! Trust no future, howe'er pleasant! Let the dead past bury its dead! Act, act in the living present! Heart within and God o'erhead! Lives of great men all remind us, We can make our lives sublime, And, departing leave behind us, Footprints on the sands of time. Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o'er life's solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again. Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait.

MORNING AND EVENING Charles H. Spurgeon MORNING. "God, that comforteth those that are cast down." 2 Corinthians 7:6 And who comforteth like him? Go to some poor, melancholy, distressed child of God; tell him sweet promises, and whisper in his ear choice words of comfort; he is like the deaf adder, he listens not to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely. He is drinking gall and wormwood, and comfort him as you may, it will be only a note or two of mournful resignation that you will get from him; you will bring forth no psalms of praise, no hallelujahs, no joyful sonnets. But let God come to his child, let him lift up his countenance, and the mourner's eyes glisten with hope. Do you not hear him sing-- "'Tis paradise, if thou art here; If thou depart, 'tis hell?" You could not have cheered him: but the Lord has done it; "He is the God of all comfort." There is no balm in Gilead, but there is balm in God. There is no physician among the creatures, but the Creator is Jehovah-rophi. It is marvellous how one sweet word of God will make whole songs for Christians. One word of God is like a piece of gold, and the Christian is the gold beater, and can hammer that promise out for whole weeks. So, then, poor Christian, thou needest not sit down in despair. Go to the Comforter, and ask him to give thee consolation. Thou art a poor dry well. You have heard it said, that when a pump is dry, you must pour water down it first of all, and then you will get water, and so, Christian, when thou art dry, go to God, ask him to shed abroad his joy in thy heart, and then thy joy shall be full. Do not go to earthly acquaintances, for you will find them Job's comforters after all; but go first and foremost to thy "God, that comforteth those that are cast down," and you will soon say, "In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul." Evening. "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." Matthew 4:1 A holy character does not avert temptation--Jesus was tempted. When Satan tempts us, his sparks fall upon tinder; but in Christ's case, it was like striking sparks on water; yet the enemy continued his evil work. Now, if the devil goes on striking when there is no result, how much more will he do it when he knows what inflammable stuff our hearts are made of. Though you become greatly sanctified by the Holy Ghost, expect that the great dog of hell will bark at you still. In the haunts of men we expect to be tempted, but even seclusion will not guard us from the same trial. Jesus Christ was led away from human society into the wilderness, and was tempted of the devil. Solitude has its charms and its benefits, and may be useful in checking the lust of the eye and the pride of life; but the devil will follow us into the most lovely retreats. Do not suppose that it is only the worldly-minded who have dreadful thoughts and blasphemous temptations, for even spiritual-minded persons endure the same; and in the holiest position we may suffer the darkest temptation. The utmost consecration of spirit will not insure you against Satanic temptation. Christ was consecrated through and through. It was his meat and drink to do the will of him that sent him: and yet he was tempted! Your hearts may glow with a seraphic flame of love to Jesus, and yet the devil will try to bring you down to Laodicean lukewarmness. If you will tell me when God permits a Christian to lay aside his armour, I will tell you when Satan has left off temptation. Like the old knights in war time, we must sleep with helmet and breastplate buckled on, for the arch-deceiver will seize our first unguarded hour to make us his prey. The Lord keep us watchful in all seasons, and give us a final escape from the jaw of the lion and the paw of the bear.

Now there are many professing Christians who do not think that you ever can know that you are forgiven while you remain in this world. They are not of this mind merely because they are ignorant of the Gospel, but because that gospel is beclouded with errors. Their teachers throw dust into their eyes or envelope them in mist. They see men as trees walking, and no more. They are brought up in orthodox fashion to repeat a mournful litany, and to call themselves“miserable sinners,” in stereotyped phrases. They are taught to go on forever asking for pardon as if they had never received it. They are made to look upon themselves still as needing to be dealt with as lost sheep and reconciled as rebels. Their standing is always at the foot of Sinai. They are not taught that the Lord has forgiven us all our trespasses. Their church, as if to chasten it for its alliance with the State, has lost the jubilant tone of faith, and made its daily service rather a wail for sinners than a song for saints. Now the Gospel of Jesus Christ tells us that there is pardon, that we may have it, and that when we believe in Jesus, we have obtained full remission—that we are pardoned when we believe in Jesus and that our iniquities are forgiven us. It is a matter signed, sealed, and delivered. It is a fact accomplished before the Lord and infallibly ascertainable by us. Sin is put away. Though we shall never be in such a condition here that we shall not have need to confess daily sin— for new sins will rise—yet, at the same time, the moment we believe in Jesus, no condemnation is upon us. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” We are forgiven. Charle H. Spurgeon

November 5th, 2025 Innocent Redeemer. “Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?”—John 8:46 From the fall of Jerusalem the thoughts of Jesus passed to a wider judgment. In the destruction of the impenitent city He saw a symbol of the final destruction to come upon the world. He said, “Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?” By the green tree, Jesus represented Himself, the innocent Redeemer. God suffered His wrath against transgression to fall on His beloved Son. Jesus was to be crucified for the sins of humanity. What suffering, then, would the sinner bear who continued in sin? All the impenitent and unbelieving would know a sorrow and misery that language would fail to express. Of the multitude that followed the Saviour to Calvary, many had attended Him with joyful hosannas and the waving of palm branches as He rode triumphantly into Jerusalem. But not a few who had then shouted His praise, because it was popular to do so, now swelled the cry of “Crucify Him, crucify Him.” When Christ rode into Jerusalem, the hopes of the disciples had been raised to the highest pitch. They had pressed close about their Master, feeling that it was a high honor to be connected with Him. Now in His humiliation they followed Him at a distance. They were filled with grief, and bowed down with disappointed hopes. How were the words of Jesus verified: “All ye shall be offended because of Me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad” (Matthew 26:31). Arriving at the place of execution, the prisoners were bound to the instruments of torture. The two thieves wrestled in the hands of those who placed them on the cross; but Jesus made no resistance. The mother of Jesus, supported by John the beloved disciple, had followed the steps of her Son to Calvary. She had seen Him fainting under the burden of the cross, and had longed to place a supporting hand beneath His wounded head, and to bathe that brow which had once been pillowed upon her bosom. But she was not permitted this mournful privilege. With the disciples she still cherished the hope that Jesus would manifest His power, and deliver Himself from His enemies. Again her heart would sink as she recalled the words in which He had foretold the very scenes that were then taking place.—The Desire of Ages, 743, 744. Further Reflection: How do I treat those I love when they hurt me?

Guidelines for living. September 17, 2025 ​ 4 Guidelines for a Life Without Regrets For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2 ​ On his sickbed prior to his death, the British preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, said, “If you do not wish to be full of regrets when you are forced to lie still, work while you can. If you desire to make a sickbed as soft as it can be, don’t stuff it with mournful reflections that you wasted time when you were in health and strength.” I suppose it’s only natural when you get to the place Spurgeon described that you have regrets. You can no longer climb that mountain or swim the lagoon. Neither can you jump stairs two at a time or run and leap across a meadow. That’s not what Spurgeon had in mind though. What he was talking about was coming to the sunset of your life. Then looking back, realizing you took the wrong road and wasted a lot of your years. To ensure that you’ll have no regrets, put into operation the following four guidelines, which can make a tremendous amount of difference. Guideline #1: Do it now. Don’t wait until you retire to start that hobby, or the trip, or get busy remodeling the house, or… (are you ready for this?) get into the shoebox in the closet and sort out those letters you wrote to your old girlfriend before you were married—you know, the ones you would just as soon that your children didn’t read after you’re gone. I’m also suggesting that you make peace with your enemies now and get rid of the bitterness, which made enemies out of friends. Guideline #2: Plan it now. OK, there are some things that you can’t do now, things that take preparation and planning—that fishing trip with your boys, the anniversary weekend you kept promising your wife, the retirement program that you have been intending to set up. Good intentions are not enough. A dream is a goal with a timeline attached. By the way, put to rest that notion that there’s plenty of time later on. You can’t broker your future. As she lay dying, Queen Victoria, the British monarch, is said to have cried out, “My kingdom, my kingdom for an inch of time.” I’m amazed at the number of people who have no written wills outlining what they want done with their assets which, by default, often go to the government or fall into the hands of those who little appreciate them or will not use them as the donor would have really wanted. Guideline #3: Say it now. The teacher who so influenced your life. You’ve always been intending to find her and tell her how much you appreciated what she did. You’ve also been intending to tell your dad how much you love him, something that just doesn’t come easy because of a broken home. Don’t wait. Say it now. Guideline #4: Live it now. Make your peace with God now, not when you are on a deathbed. “Deathbed conversions are seldom real,” said Matthew Henry long ago, adding, “and true conversions are seldom made on the deathbed.” Writing to the Corinthians, Paul penned these strong words: “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” There are times when hard-working, thoughtful people—the kind who have been very successful in business, education, and industry, the kind who got to the top by skillful planning, hard work, and ingenuity—ignore God until they are felled by a stroke or a massive heart attack and they are so doped up by medication, they find it hard to think straight. Don’t wait until you’re faced with the final exam to start cramming for the last test. Find out what the Bible says about making peace with God. Do it now: good advice to make your sick bed softer. ​ Resource reading: Isaiah 38:1-21