Dr. John C. Reddy

Life is short; Eternity is long   Two weeks ago, our doorbell rang as I attended to the door, there stood a man with a huge bouquet of flowers. My brother-in-law and his family ordered flowers and a box of chocolates for my special birthday from Australia. It was quite a surprise as I wasn't expecting anything, especially from across the great ocean. The flower arrangement was gorgeous with a variety of flowers.   Two weeks passed, and the flowers faded, and I must throw them away. I was not pleased to discard these flowers but did it anyway, of course, reluctantly. It reminded me of the brevity of our lives.   The prophet Isaiah writes,  "All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever"  (Isaiah 40:6-8).   In the Psalm...

  L ately, I was spending more time with my kids and playing board games with them. When we play Monopoly, it is a serious business.   I mean serious business. All of us come up with the best strategies to win the game. When you own many properties and build houses and hotels, you feel like you achieved a great deal. Sometimes when the game runs for hours, we keep the game alive untouched and continue the next day.   Because no one wants to give up and loose until the game is over. Here comes the sad part, when the game is over, all the titles, money, houses, and hotels go back to the box. Our life on earth is like a Monopoly Game. When our time on earth is over, we have to leave everything behind. Our bodies are made out of the dust, "and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:7).    Moses prays to God in Psalm 90, "You return man to dust...You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a drea...