2018

[This is a letter written to a young man , who was struggling with his faith.  Read it thoughtfully]

Dear brother.

Time has passed, two Lord’s Days in fact, since we talked, and I have seen neither hide nor hair of you since then.  So, I want to approach you this way, and urge you to calmly consider what I say.  That is the advantage of a letter: it does not require an immediate response, allowing for unpressured reflection.

All our days are important, but some of them moreso because they reach beyond themselves to influence our lives, critically, for perhaps years to come.  It seems to me that this is just such a crucial time in your life.  I guess you’ve been living away from home now for several years, what with college and so forth.    Now, you are making your own living, having your own place. The last vestiges of habit from the eighteen or nineteen years you lived in your Mother’s and Dad’s house are dimming – and this is not bad, it is a normal part of the process of growing up.

                The potential for “bad” of course, is in what you replace those childhood and youthful habits with.  Nobody, now, to stand over you and say “go to church”. “Study your Bible now”, pray now”, etc.  So, if you do any or all of these good things, it must be because YOU decide to.

                The problem is, you can decide NOT to.  That is the wrong decision, but it is one you can make (and, you seem to be favoring it), because you are now on your own.  No, not quite.   You ae responsible also and MAINLY to God; and as His steward you will one day give account of the decisions you make (I Corinthians 4:2).

                I am not trying to cause you to repent and return by scaring you about the uncertainty of life and the absence of any promise of tomorrow even for the young.  What I am trying to do is to cause you to view every day of your life as precious –TOO PRECIOUS to be lived out of service to God – which is where you are now living it.

                I know you have all kinds of distractions and things that pull you away from doing what you know you ought to do.  I know that to turn around and begin again to do right will not be easy, I know, most of all, that you CAN DO IT, and I hope to see you make that new beginning.                               

                Brother, I write because I care about you, and because I am concerned.  You be concerned, too.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Your brother,

            Pat                                                                                                                                                                                               https://www.facebook.com/Plruncoc - Facebook
 https://sites.google.com/plruncoc.com/tex/home - Web page