This season of the year is filled with significant events. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a few of them but two of the most important I postponed to talk about now.

In fact they both occurred within the family of Glen and Rebecca Hollon. The first was the baptism of their daughter, Leanna. Why is baptism so important? All of a person's life, in fact the Kingdom of God, depends on the decision of an individual to change and follow God.

The world has been shaped by individuals. Man may place a high value on government programs and institutions but history has been made by individuals. It is not government programs or institutions that change the world. The lessons of history are written in biographies of men and women who made right choices.

The value of any community is the integrity of the individual members of the community. It is the same within the Church of God. It is built on the "one on one" relationship with God. One person at a time making a private but conscious decision to seek God. It is not a group thing. Not even a congregational thing. It is personal and most of the process occurs in the privacy of one's prayer closet. The congregation is a collection of such individuals, all of whom have made the same commitment. The Kingdom of God is composed of those individuals.

The second event was the funeral of Daisy Hollon, the grandmother of Leanna. Vernon and Daisy were founding members of the Church of God in Cincinnati about 1963.

We bring the most intense emotions to a funeral. It is a sad occasion and yet it is one of the most important celebrations of life. Yes, I did say celebration. It is good for us to rejoice at birth, graduation, and marriage but a life well lived should be honored with the same sense of joy.

The ancient Greeks had a saying that real joy could not be achieved until the end of a thing. An athletic contest is not joyful until it's completed. If you build a house real contentment occurs when the project is finished. Then the builder takes a walk around to admire the finished product. But the Greeks were referring to life itself. As we gathered for the funeral we told stories of sacrifice, hard work and achievement. It was as if we were gathered with the builder to admire His finished work. It was a joyful occasion.

Solomon said that the day of death is better than the day of birth. He was expressing the joy of a life sealed. Not until the day of death is the race finished, the life sealed.

Until next time,