Doug Dezotell
The eggs…I was wanting eggs, and I was ready to grab them out of the cooler at Walmart when I said hello to the lady standing next to me.
The Cross…I was wearing a black t-shirt with a big white Cross on it, and she looked at my shirt and smiled and said she liked the Cross, and then she looked at my hair and my eyes, my glasses (I was wearing a mask covering my mouth and nose…flu season, you know).
The column… “Oh, I know who you are! I read your column every week. When I saw your t-shirt it dawned on me where I knew you from. You’ve spoken at my church before, too.”
The lady… Vicky Thomas and I talked for a while there in front of the eggs at Walmart. We talked about my columns and the freedom that the Times-Gazette has given me to share my faith in Jesus Christ with my readers.
The freedom… I thank God every day for the freedom I have to write about Jesus Christ, to teach about Jesus Christ, to preach about Jesus Christ, and to talk openly about Jesus Christ with Vicky right there in the dairy section of our local Walmart.
The conversation… We talked about Jesus, and the Cross, and His Second Coming, and the coming persecution for believers in Jesus here in America…But, then we talked about the Hope we have that one day we will join Jesus in the Throne Room of Heaven.
The persecution… Christians have been suffering persecution all throughout history, ever since Jesus was hung upon the Cross, and rose from the grave, and then He ascended to be with the Father in Heaven.
The suffering… Many of the first century disciples had to hide in caves, or outside away from towns to worship Jesus… and many of them were martyred, murdered for their faith… and this went on for century after century…and still today across the globe Christians are suffering persecution, and are still being put to death for their unwillingness to denounce Jesus Christ.
The unwillingness… Vicky and I talked about our willingness to suffer persecution if it come to that in our lifetime. I am willing to take a stand for Jesus; to preach and teach the Truth of God’s Word, even if it is not “politically correct,” or “socially acceptable.”
The Truth… Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me (John 14:6). The writer of the Book of Hebrews reminds us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever….” And the Prophet Malachi proclaimed what God told him: “For I Am the LORD, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.”
My friend… I want to thank my friend, Vicky Thomas, for not only saying ‘hello’ back to me in the dairy section, but for giving me inspiration for this column…right there in front of those eggs (I bought 3 cartons, by the way).
I agree with my dear friend (whom I haven’t met yet), Rick Renner, who wrote the following in his book, “Sparkling Gems II.”
“Do you ever feel like the world is shifting and swirling so fast that i t is different from one day to the next? It is simply a fact that we live in an age when everything seems to be changing before our eyes. In fact, technology develops so quickly that if I listed devices that represent the ‘new’ technology of today, whatever I wrote down would be outdated before this book is printed!
“Not only have we seen technologies change quickly, but we have also seen politics and political parties, national and international boundaries, and currencies change, and the list goes on and on.
“In the midst of this climate of sweeping changes that the world is caught up in, scores of people have been swept into a seismic shift in core biblical values and morals, even concerning the most basic tenets of faith.
“These changes are occurring at an alarming rate, but we should not be surprised by it, because the Holy Spirit warned us 2,000 years in advance that this would occur in the very last part of the last days. Perhaps the shock we feel is that so many are abandoning former positions of faith to embrace new ones at what seems to be such lightning speed.”
Thank you, Rick!
Things are changing fast! But God doesn’t change; Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever; the Word of God doesn’t change…even though people want to change it.
The Apostle Peter, quoting from the great Prophet Isaiah, wrote, “‘All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the Word of the Lord endures forever.’ Now this is the Word which by the Gospel was preached to you.” (1 Peter 1:24-25; Isaiah 40:6-8)
Back to the dairy section at Walmart…. My friend and I talked about Heaven, and we talked about this great old hymn, “Heaven’s Sounding Sweeter All The Time... Life has been so good, I can’t complain. When I’m down, God gives me strength to rise again. I get weary from the struggle of it all, So I listen, how I listen for His call. Heaven’s sounding sweeter all the time, Seems like lately, it’s always on my mind. Someday, I’ll leave this world behind. Heaven’s sounding sweeter all the time.”
And that will never change.
