EVERYTHING WILL COME TO PASS

A few days ago I was having a crazy day. I was behind on a few writing deadlines, my writing website was crashing, and my wife had just called me to let me know that the upstairs toilet had flooded and drained into the floor vent, then poured out into the ceiling; breaking through the ceiling tiles and onto the downstairs bathroom floor.

I was sitting at my favorite coffee shop at the time, in front of my laptop trying to put together a story about Mike Tyson's daughter Exodus, and her accidental death. I must have looked pretty stressed, because an elderly man came by and, "Did somebody die?"

I looked at him and said, "Yes, but not anyone I know."

"You look like your best friend died," he said with a look of concern.

"No, I am just having a bad day."

"I've got something for you, son," he said as he pulled out a small pocket bible. He flipped it open to Genesis 8:22. I read it, and then he read it out loud. "As long as the earth endures, it says," he looked at me smiling. "See, son? Hot cold, summer winter, day and night, seed time and harvest."

"So things are going to come, stuff happens. Is that what you are saying, because I am not in the state of mind to figure out what you are getting at, my friend." I said, trying to be nice, but feeling more frustrated.

"No, that's not what I am saying, but let's look at that. Things are going to happen, like you say. Yes. Thank God." He laughed, with a big wonderful smile, which made me smile.

"Things are going to come. When the cold is heavy upon you and the cold is making your bones hurt, the promise is that no matter what is in the winter, the summer IS GOING TO COME. When you are planting and working hard in the field. Maybe you have to tighten your belt and make your rations painfully smaller, but harvest will come, and there will be a time for feast."

Just then the barista called his name and he grabbed his straight black coffee. He gave me a slap on the back and said, "No matter what...it will come and pass."

What encouragement. I thought about the truth behind his words. I looked up the verse on my cell and book marked it. I remembered all the chaos that happened the night before I got married (11 years ago, July 11th) and how there was a storm, a tornado warning, and my best man ate nuts that he was allergic to and had to be rushed to the hospital. At some point in the night I grabbed my soon to be wife (in the dark because we lost power and had to have the rehearsal dinner by candle light) and said. "Diane, no matter what, tomorrow you will be my wife, and I will be your husband."

For some reason that seemed to make everything feel better. The old gentleman who gave me that verse had just done the same thing.

As you are going through your day, no matter what the circumstances, the deadlines, and issues...next month will come, and today's problems will have passed. It is your life, your family, your future, that matters most. Everything else will come and pass.