God bless you all.I recently flew to Pittsburgh from Dallas Love Field.I was running late,but I was actually calm about it.The trip was going to be ministry related,& even though I knew there was a good chance that I would miss my flight (which I ultimately did do),I was just confident that God was going to be in the details.When I entered the terminal building,I saw something that brought back a flood of memories from many years ago.
It was when I was eight years old in 1962,and I was going with my parents to pick up a family member (I don't even remember who now).It was another time,not a perfect time,but somehow seeming to be more innocent.The Cuban missile crisis was still months off.JFK was still alive.So were his brother Bobby & Martin Luther King.When I entered the terminal building,I saw so many things that seemed brand new.I saw airline ticket counters for airlines such as Braniff & Trans Texas Airways & Pan Am,all of which no longer exist.There were rental car counters.The one that I particularly remember was the Avis counter,& that really caught the attention of this eight year old because they were giving away buttons with the motto "We try harder" emblazoned on them.Among all these things I saw was what seemed a truly giant statue.It was a full sized bronze statue of a Texas ranger,with the words on the plaque on it saying "One riot,one ranger".It's story,which I did not know then,was a legend of a Texas ranger who was reported to have been sent to quell an altercation.When local law enforcement asked where the rest of the men were who would help quell the situation,He was reported to have said "One riot,one ranger".These things were imprinted on the mind of a little eight year old.Many years have come and gone since then,& there have been many changes.Many joy's and many tragedies have happened,and life has unfolded in it's own unique course.We have seen men land on the moon.We have seen a president and vice president resign in disgrace from office.We have seen the "cold" war come to an end.We have seen Space shuttles take massive payloads into space,including a telescope that has allowed us to see celestial wonders only imagined before.We have also seen tragedy strike when two of those space shuttles were catastrophically destroyed,one during launch,and one during re-entry.The World Trade buildings,completed in 1973,were tragically destroyed in 2001 by people who thought this act was an honorable thing to do.Times change.People are born and people die.People marry,and sadly,more than one out of two of those marriages end in divorce.What was so new and exciting and captivating yesterday ends up in the landfill of time today.I walk into Love Field,and there it is.That same statue I saw for the first time forty eight years ago.Many things have changed over the years.The terminal building that seemed so new and shiny and full of promise forty eight years ago is now just a utilitarian shadow of it's former glory.Gone are the ticket counters of those long gone and almost forgotten airlines.Gone are the free buttons advertising Avis rent-a-car that caught the eye of an eight year old boy so many years ago,but there was the statue of the ranger that I saw for the first time so many years ago.It struck me with the irony of how in a world so full of impermanence there was this single link with the past.That statue that had decades before painted it's image on the mind of an eight year old boy was still there.On the statue was that same plaque saying "One riot,one ranger".It brought to mind the person I met so many years ago.That person who happened to be the creator of the universes.That same person who knew me before I was ever an eight year old boy in an airport terminal.That same person who found me when I was not looking for Him.I am sure that you know of this person who I am talking about.I am sure you know about Jesus.I am wondering if you know Jesus today? Do you know Him personally?I am sure that many of you,perhaps most of you reading this story do know Him personally,and more importantly,He knows you.I am urging you today that if you do not know Jesus,that you would look for Him.You do not have to wait for Him to find you,as He found me.It says in Jeremiah 29:13 "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart".In a world so full of impermanence and loss and yesterdays faded like sepia photographs,there is in time no promise of permanence.We find that permanence only in the one who was from eternity past,and will be in eternity forever.He created you to live with Him forever,and by the way,He came into this world so full of death and faded yesterdays to die with us...that we may also live with Him.He rose from that death to show us that His promise is real.Don't delay,because you never know if that tomorrow that you are so sure of will ever really come at all.Just like That statue that proclaimed "one riot one ranger",In Jesus we see it proclaimed "One world,one Savior".God bless you...see you later?
And oh by the way,I was able to catch the next plane,and got to Pittsburgh just fine ,glory to God
It was when I was eight years old in 1962,and I was going with my parents to pick up a family member (I don't even remember who now).It was another time,not a perfect time,but somehow seeming to be more innocent.The Cuban missile crisis was still months off.JFK was still alive.So were his brother Bobby & Martin Luther King.When I entered the terminal building,I saw so many things that seemed brand new.I saw airline ticket counters for airlines such as Braniff & Trans Texas Airways & Pan Am,all of which no longer exist.There were rental car counters.The one that I particularly remember was the Avis counter,& that really caught the attention of this eight year old because they were giving away buttons with the motto "We try harder" emblazoned on them.Among all these things I saw was what seemed a truly giant statue.It was a full sized bronze statue of a Texas ranger,with the words on the plaque on it saying "One riot,one ranger".It's story,which I did not know then,was a legend of a Texas ranger who was reported to have been sent to quell an altercation.When local law enforcement asked where the rest of the men were who would help quell the situation,He was reported to have said "One riot,one ranger".These things were imprinted on the mind of a little eight year old.Many years have come and gone since then,& there have been many changes.Many joy's and many tragedies have happened,and life has unfolded in it's own unique course.We have seen men land on the moon.We have seen a president and vice president resign in disgrace from office.We have seen the "cold" war come to an end.We have seen Space shuttles take massive payloads into space,including a telescope that has allowed us to see celestial wonders only imagined before.We have also seen tragedy strike when two of those space shuttles were catastrophically destroyed,one during launch,and one during re-entry.The World Trade buildings,completed in 1973,were tragically destroyed in 2001 by people who thought this act was an honorable thing to do.Times change.People are born and people die.People marry,and sadly,more than one out of two of those marriages end in divorce.What was so new and exciting and captivating yesterday ends up in the landfill of time today.I walk into Love Field,and there it is.That same statue I saw for the first time forty eight years ago.Many things have changed over the years.The terminal building that seemed so new and shiny and full of promise forty eight years ago is now just a utilitarian shadow of it's former glory.Gone are the ticket counters of those long gone and almost forgotten airlines.Gone are the free buttons advertising Avis rent-a-car that caught the eye of an eight year old boy so many years ago,but there was the statue of the ranger that I saw for the first time so many years ago.It struck me with the irony of how in a world so full of impermanence there was this single link with the past.That statue that had decades before painted it's image on the mind of an eight year old boy was still there.On the statue was that same plaque saying "One riot,one ranger".It brought to mind the person I met so many years ago.That person who happened to be the creator of the universes.That same person who knew me before I was ever an eight year old boy in an airport terminal.That same person who found me when I was not looking for Him.I am sure that you know of this person who I am talking about.I am sure you know about Jesus.I am wondering if you know Jesus today? Do you know Him personally?I am sure that many of you,perhaps most of you reading this story do know Him personally,and more importantly,He knows you.I am urging you today that if you do not know Jesus,that you would look for Him.You do not have to wait for Him to find you,as He found me.It says in Jeremiah 29:13 "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart".In a world so full of impermanence and loss and yesterdays faded like sepia photographs,there is in time no promise of permanence.We find that permanence only in the one who was from eternity past,and will be in eternity forever.He created you to live with Him forever,and by the way,He came into this world so full of death and faded yesterdays to die with us...that we may also live with Him.He rose from that death to show us that His promise is real.Don't delay,because you never know if that tomorrow that you are so sure of will ever really come at all.Just like That statue that proclaimed "one riot one ranger",In Jesus we see it proclaimed "One world,one Savior".God bless you...see you later?
And oh by the way,I was able to catch the next plane,and got to Pittsburgh just fine ,glory to God
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