I was very impressed and blessed by the outpouring of sympathy and kind concern shown me at the time of the death of my roommate.  His funeral was very moving and meant a great deal to me, and I enjoyed being with his family at that difficult time. 

             While I was in his home the week before, I recorded a 15-minute interview with Bob in which I talked with him about his worldview and about the faith that enabled him to live for four years with someone whose values were completely different from his.  On November 29^th I’m going to preach a very unusual sermon.  I will be sharing my personal testimony and interspersing the testimony with Bob’s testimony now preserved on DVD.  Many of you have expressed the feeling that you knew him and yet don’t know what he looked like.  That will be handled on Sunday morning at both services on November 29^th. 

If you have a college or high school student in your home, I would strongly urge you to bring them and let them hear from this man who had the maturity of faith at 18 to be a major influence in my life.

             God’s grace is astounding to me, and the further along I move in live, the more astounding it becomes.  His arrangement of our being roommates was one of the many acts of grace He did in my life prior to my becoming a Christian.  I am grateful to God for all He did for so many years and look forward to expressing it on Sunday morning, November 29^th.

            My dad was a wise man of few words (yes, Mr./Ms. Smarty.  My mother was a talker.  That answers that genetic question.)  I remember a conversation with him about a new thoracic surgeon named Nelson Kraft, who had just arrived in Tallahassee.  He talked about what a great surgeon he was and how fortunate we were to have him in Tallahassee.  I said, “Dad, what makes one surgeon better than another?”  He said, “What do you think?”  I said, “Small hands?”  He said, “No.”  “Dexterity?”  “No.”  “Sharp eye?”  “No.”  He said, “THE MARK OF A GREAT SURGEON IS KNOWING WHEN NOT TO OPERATE.” 

            Going forward feels like progress but isn’t always progress.  Sometimes it’s heading for a cliff.  The wise people I admire are always moving forward but at a pace where stopping or changing directions is possible.  There will always be the Tiger Woods of the world who can stop his prodigious golf swing in mid-swing.  Most of us can’t do that, so we need a little slower pace.  Is there a decision you’d be better off not making right now?  Not sure?  Maybe it would be a good time to ask the Lord what He thinks and see what He says to your heart.