A couple weeks ago, I came to the conclusion that this world just stinks! Everything about it stinks. A guy, out of his mind, shoots and kills 32 college folks. Another guy takes a hostage and kills him along with himself. Twenty people die in a car bombing in Baghdad. There are five people in my subdivision that are on the sex offender list. Wives and children are constantly being abandoned by selfish jerks who could care less about the child they helped to create as long as they get everything they want. People are starving all over the world and we throw more food away than we consume. The most popular people, at least as observed by Entertainment Tonight, are women who are having babies and then handing them over to their nannies to care for as soon as they can, all the while partying till they puke. These are the girls that our daughters are supposed to look up to? I think not! Or is it the rap artist who has been shot seven or eight times and survived? Oooo, he must be a tough guy. We better look up to him? Question, why was he in a place where he could get shot that much?

The next day I came to another conclusion. I am one of the luckiest people in the world. I have a wonderful, beautiful wife, two very good looking and above average kids (listen to Garrisson Keilor on "A Prairie Home Companion" to understand the above joke), if I do say so myself, a perfect job where I can, every minute of every day, talk about Jesus and his love, a wonderful support group of Christians all around me, and most importantly a faith that will see me through to eternity.

Did you catch what I did there? I showed the contrast between the world and Christianity. I clearly delineated what it means to live in the world but not of it. This is what it means to live the Christian life.

One of the best selling books to come out recently is called "The Secret". I haven't read it and I don't care to, because I am too busy reading the BIBLE which is really no "secret" at all. Yet, what I have heard about this book is that it gives you the "secret" to a "happy" life. The problem is that this book just assumes that the key to a happy life only includes money, fame, success, a good looking spouse, and a healthy body. Sorry, but if my happiness is connected at all to what I have on this earth without first relying on the mercy, grace, and peace of God, then all is lost and I will be the poorest, most depressed sap in the world.

I'll give you the real secret to being happy or to a life worth living, or living your best life now, or how ever you want to put it. Here it is! Are you ready? Do you have paper and pencil to write it down? "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have eternal life. Now that you've heard it you realize that it is really no secret at all. All you have to do is open your ears and your eyes to the truth that is right before you in God's Word.

In the midst of a world that seems to be going downhill faster than an Olympic skier, in a personal life that will be full of ups and downs, you can be happy because you know that John 3:16 is completely true. You know that, because Jesus died on the cross, you will not die but live and proclaim what the Lord has done!

Sometimes as I am watching the late evening news I just sit there and cry. All I see and hear is one bad news story after another. Yet I have peace because I know that there will come a day when this world will end, and it is this peace that makes me, by the power of the Holy Spirit, appreciate all of the good gifts that God has given to me while I am here on this earth! I pray, out of sincere love for all of you, that you can and do know that peace and security as well, because I really want to see you in heaven with me someday! "The peace of God which transcends all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians. 4:7) Amen.