Years ago I read a story in Leadership Magazine of a Pastor who responded to the question of mistakes he’d made.  One week he posted the title of the sermon on the Reader Board: “10 People I’d Like to See Go to Hell.” This caused such curiosity that the following Sunday the church was packed, including reporters from local newspapers.  Normally this would be a good thing, but the problem was that the sermon title implied something that wasn’t true.  The real topic of the sermon was “ten people I’d like to see go to Hell and then come back and tell us what it’s like.”  He had a list of faithful people like Billy Graham. 

            Heaven and Hell.  They are real ~ God is the judge.  Such fascination…Today’s message is the Surprise of Who is going to heaven ~ were this to attract major attention: it should, for there is nothing more important.  

Back in the good old days, the neighborhood kids played flag football in-between our house on Vancouver Street and the Hoffman’s house.  We had the whole neighborhood out one day: several of the Peterson Boy’s, the Vos boys, me and even my older brother Jim.  Here comes Arthur Phinney.  Arthur had the best of everything, and on this day, he came out dressed in his real football uniform with pads, cleats, a helmet.  I was on the team with my brother, who was playing quarterback, Arthur was on the other team.  Arthur stood out in his real uniform… I was never a good athlete; I did not know much about football.  We went to the huddle and my brother called the play:  a running play for me.  “I’ll hand you the ball,” my brother said, “you run around the right side and hold your arm out in front of you making it stiff, and no matter what happens, keep running and keep your arm perfectly stiff.”  This made no sense, I thought my brother was a bit nuts, but being a rule follower, I did exactly what Jim said.  He handed me the ball, I held it in my left arm, I put my hand in front of me and started running.  No matter what, just keep running towards the goal.  Suddenly, in my sights was full uniformed Arthur Phinney.  “keep on running towards the goal no matter what with my stiff arm” I kept repeating in my head.  I ran straight towards Arthur.  My extended arm met his helmeted head right in the facemask before he could get his arms near me.  Boom.  Just like that, Arthur was flat on his back and I ran and scored a touchdown, still with a stiff arm.

God is God.  When God gives instructions, we may not always understand why, but rather than talk back, rather than question, the best we can do is run around the right side, just like we are told, keep your arm stiff, even if it makes no sense, and God has a plan, a reason. If I could write the story, I can think of many people that would have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior by now.  

We think we are so smart… A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, “This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you.” The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, “Which do you want, son?” The boy takes the quarters and leaves. “What did I tell you?” said the barber. “That kid never learns!” Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store. “Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?” The boy licked his cone and replied, “Because the day I take the dollar, the game is over!”

Do you ever have the experience of reading the Bible, reading the same passage for years, and then you read it one more time and something leaps off the page?  For me, such is the case of Rom. 9:1-5.  I started this series two years ago, one chapter at a time.  2 years ago I was thankful I had a long time before I got to chs 9-11…  they are all about Israel and the place of Israel in God’s plan of salvation ~ divergent opinions, confusing questions… Here we are… and what a great surprise!  What I now see is that more important than the details of the place of Israel is Paul’s broken heart for his people!  More important than getting the theology right is to get the heart right. I may not fully understand the place of Israel in God’s big picture of salvation, but Paul’s great love and respect for the Jews is unmistakable.   The right heart to reach people for Christ is a broken heart! 

Haunting regrets diminish the quality of life. // Regrets wear you down.//  Often regrets isolate you, because those who live compromised lives of regret live them inside their head. One person wrote:

Alone in my head, 
I'm feeling so low, 
You wont understand, 
No one can know.

My eyes are so tired, 
I can't sleep at night, 
Your face haunts my dreams, 
When I turn out the light

Deep down inside, 
I know it's my fault, 
So I'm just going to lock it, 
Away in my vault. 

Regrets…haunting… compromising… they age you… strip the joy from life.