The Journey
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Chapter 1
The Grab Bag of Life
Every person walks through the journey of life without knowing what the future holds for him or her. The most carefully laid plans guarantee nothing. What we do know is that all of us will experience some good and some bad. In every life, there will be times of laughter and times of crying. We are all well acquainted with the so-called ups and downs of life, and we never know whether today will be an “up” day or a “down” day.
To use an analogy, life is like a “grab bag.” Have you ever gone into a baseball-card shop and purchased a grab bag? A grab bag is a bag containing merchandise that you cannot see. You buy it before you know what is in it. As you open your bag, you will probably find players of various skill and popularity. You may be delightfully surprised with a number of top-notch players, or you may feel that you have totally wasted your money on relatively unknown team members whom you don’t care to have in your collection. Each card you pull out of the bag could make you very glad that you took a chance, or it could make you feel that you have made a poor investment.
Life, too, is a grab bag. Each day, you reach into the bag of life and pull out a card that outlines a series of events that you will experience on that particular day. Some days are just okay. Some are great, and others are days that you wish you could put back in the bag. However you may feel about a particular day, one thing is for sure: you are going to have to live with it.
We have no power to change which “cards” we receive in life. What we do have is the ability to choose how we respond to those cards.
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About the Book
The Journey is a series of devotionals that guide us through our lives. As we follow its path, we are reminded of many experiences we have been through, some which were welcomed and some we would rather have avoided. The Journey reveals life in all its dimensions, its high points and low points, its victories and defeats and everything in between. As we meditate on biblical truth, we find a God who has directed our lives and who is ever present with us. Sometimes we see Him obviously, and at other times He seems strangely silent, if not absent. The Journey helps us to understand this apparent contradiction by teaching us to look through the eyes of faith.
Meditating on these devotionals assures us that our Father shares all the events of our pilgrimage. He is there when we enter the first grade, and He accompanies us when we graduate. He shares our rejoicing at the birth of our first child, and He rejoices with us as we see our children grow into mature adults. We are reminded that God delights in seeing us happy and that He provides good things for us to enjoy. On the other hand, He is there during the stress of an uninvited hardship.
Reading The Journey will help you to know how to navigate through the winding path of life by living by God’s unfailing, eternal principles. The Journey will teach you how to live life skillfully.
About the Author
Don came to know the Lord forty-one years ago and immediately began sharing the good news. He decided to go into vocational Christian work and has been a full-time pastor for thirty-five years. He earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Theological Seminary and has been an ardent student of Scripture. After a successful pastorate in northeast Texas, he brought his young family to Houston to start a church with very little money. Those were "miracle days," as he saw God supply his family's needs and sustain and bless them against all odds. Today, the Fellowship Bible Church in Katy, Texas, is the result of God's gracious hand on his work. Don still lives in Katy with his wife and pastors the church he started. He has a son and daughter living in the area, along with six grandchildren. His teaching is thoroughly biblical and speaks to the practical needs of people.