AROUND THE CORNER! 7/31/10

HAVE YOU EVER thought about what lies just around the corner? It could be fame and fortune; excitement and pleasure; a long awaited surprise like a birthday, a wedding or perhaps a birth of a baby? Many times it takes a while to get to the corner but when we finally reach it, a feeling of anticipation can overtake us.

THE PROMOTION in the work place is anticipated, not quite in sight but, just around the corner it hangs in the balance. You have heard about moving into the corner office which meant you had basically arrived. I never quite made the corner office and even the one around the corner. However, I have experienced many different corners in my life, some with excitement and some with trepidation!

THE YEARLY moving up in a grade for me was a relief that I got promoted again. Graduation led to my becoming employed. My employment brought Jim into my life and with Jim, we became parents of two babies that grew and grew until one day we became in-laws and then the greatest corner of all to this day; three grandsons!

EACH YEAR I have celebrated a birthday and with each birthday I would round another corner of my life. I once was a baby; a toddler; then a child; a student; a teenager; a young adult; a young woman; a woman; a wife; a mother; middle aged woman; a grandmother; a mature woman; a retired woman; an old woman. Have you noticed that we all obtain titles each time we round a corner! All of the above come with the same wage! But titles are nice, aren't they!

IT AMAZES ME that I am married to a 74 year old man. I keep telling him I never thought about being married to an old man; but here I am! I suppose he feels the same way, since I am just right behind him! I don't exactly feel older; that is until I look in the mirror or when I experience yet another health issue that slows me up even more. I still want to be active in certain things like reading and teaching God's Word. I still want to see the light come on in the eyes of those wanting to know more about their Savior. I still want to be found ready just in case He comes in all His glory, while I am yet here in this place.

"SO THEN you are no longer strangers and sojourners but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." Ephesians 2:19-22

AS WE HAVE GROWN in Jesus Christ we have built a firm foundation. We have only to stand firm in our belief; our faith and in our service within the Kingdom. I know very little about the construction of a building nor do I understand their terminology. I realize that to keep our faith from collapsing we must be strong just like buildings that have iron girders inside them to keep them from collapsing.

"FOR IT STANDS in scriptures; Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,a cornerstone chosen and precious and he who believes in Him will not be put to shame." 1 Peter 2:6 What is the cornerstone? It is a stone at the corner of two walls. This is important and demands attention. The signing of the Declaration of Independence was declared a cornerstone in American history.

JESUS IS THE CORNERSTONE OF THE CHURCH! Clear and simple! He was rejected and despised but yet He is the rock of ages that holds the church together. He is the cornerstone! He is the stone that causes men who do not believe to fall for they disobey the word. The church is the chosen race; God's own people! At age 10 I turned the corner and discovered hope eternal. You can too! Give Him your life; you'll be glad you did! By Jane Ann Crenshaw 7/27/10