A family who attends our church, out of the kindness of their hearts donated their truck, enabling us to plough our own church lot. The truck however is not equipped with a plough, which means we need to purchase one. I came across a plough, nice heavy duty, great shape, as I was perusing kijiji. The owner of the plough told me that it would fit. “No problem,” he said. But there is a problem. It will not fit. After gaining several knowledgable opinions from people who work on heavy equipment, the answer is no. It will not fit.

My current situation is that now I’ve got to try to resell the plough. This has not been super easy to do. Quite a few hits on the advertisement but no solid offers. No, it’s not the end of the world, but there’s a bit of stress involved with the whole scenario. Will we be able to sell the plough for what I paid? Will we lose money? Will I be able to find a plough at a reasonable rate to fit the truck? I already invested several hours into the endeavour. What a waste of time this has been! But has it been a waste of time? Seriously, I’m not super nervous about selling the plough because it is a great piece of equipment; we just need the buyer.

Today, as I thought of this situation, it occurred to me that life is a journey of learning and education. Life is not one catastrophe after the other. Life is one learning experience after the other. And this weeks lesson is this: Get the facts…first…and be sure you have the facts…first. But I thought…doesn’t matter what I thought. But I was told…doesn’t matter what I was told. But it looked like…doesn’t matter what it looked like. Facts are facts. I tried to talk myself into this plough fitting this truck. I tried to talk others into this plough fitting this truck. I so wished that all of the people in this line of work were wrong. They are not wrong. I am wrong. I made the purchase based upon the word of a person who did not know. He only assumed that it would match up. He thought it would (at least I hope that he really thought it would).

Next time I plan to make certain that I have the facts. Wishful thinking and hoping, and really believing is not the final conclusion of the matter. You’ve got to know, for yourself, for sure.

What about eternity? What about heaven? What about hell? What about the eternal, forever living component of every human being? Years ago, we used to sing a song containing these words: “Where will you be a million years from now? Will you be happy, will you be singing. While ages roll throughout eternity, I ask this question, where will you be?” Some people are willing to take their chances that this life is the finality of all things. But what if you are wrong? What if there is a heaven and a hell and you have not made preparations to be saved? Are you willing to accept the ideas of a writer, an entertainer, a family member or a friend who is convinced that there is no God? Supposition is unacceptable.

Even if there is no God, no eternity, no heaven, no hell, and no life after this one, and a person lives for God, what’s lost at the end of life’s journey? If however, there is a life after this one, and we fail to receive salvation through Jesus Christ, according to the Bible, an eternity of destruction and despair and torment awaits the unbeliever.

So, from now on I’m gonna do better; much better with getting the facts. Next time I’m gonna talk to the people who know for sure, the answer to my question. God knows for sure. His word, the Bible, knows for sure!