"Trifecta!" -Too

 "A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father." (John 16:16 KJV)

  "I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him." (1 Corinthians 15:3-8 NLT)

 So, yesterday's message at church had focused upon hope; which I thought was rather interesting. But more than that; yesterday's post was going to include the, "Rat Tale," which I have shared before, but do to the length of time, as it was almost 7am, I chose not to share it again. 

 Much to my surprise Pastor Bryan shared it during his message as he was explaining how important hope is to our walk with the Lord. Although, he had a little different version on the events, it was still able to show how important it is to have hope! 

 His version went like this: The experiment on the rats was to demonstrate what happens when the rats had hope, as the first batch of rats were placed in a drum of water that they could not escape from; after a few hours of swimming around, they gave up and all were dead. The next batch of rats were also placed in the drum of water, but this time, after an hour or so, half of them were taken out of the water, and saved. The rest of the remaining rats, kept on swimming around for over three days, waiting to be rescued from the water, because they had hope that they would be rescued. 

 That is a good way to see how that works, as they witnessed the others getting saved, that gave them hope to keep swimming for several days. However, the version of that 'Tale' I was told, had a little different spin, if you will. The rats that had been rescued from the water were placed back into the barrel; and they kept on swimming for weeks, because they had been rescued before! 

 It might not be that big of a deal, but there is a difference between watching others getting saved and being saved yourself. As Paul explains it, he was told about this hope, and it was good news to know; but greater than that, He witnessed Christ himself, as he was on the road to Damascus. 

 There were certain times in my youth where I had witnessed people getting saved; it was interesting to see, but I never really understood it, or couldn't see the point that it made. It never gave me any hope for the purpose of my life, or the future; let alone for eternity. But when I meet Jesus myself, that was a totally different story; one that became eternal...

""For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."" (Jeremiah 29:11 NLT)