Jesus Is Our Living Hope

You may have wondered what has happened to Dave Carroll and Mountaintop Musings. I know that occasionally I miss a week due to the business of ministry and life. Sometimes I just forget, ok? I am human and subject to messing up. But most of you reading these columns can not possibly know that my family has suffered a great loss. On August 6, my son Jesse was found dead in his apartment in Denver, Colorado. He was getting ready for work and laid back on his bed and stepped into the presence of Jesus. It was and is a shock to our family and his friends and co-workers. These past three weeks have been so very hard for me, Lisa and Jesse’s siblings.

Jesse was only 31 years old. He loved fishing as a boy and teenager. We live near the Little Blackfoot River, and he spent countless hours down there in search of the various trout that swim those waters. He always wanted to be a fly fisherman, but I do not think he ever spent much time perfecting that skill. When it came to hunting his brothers always wanted him to go with them as he had the best eyes in the bunch and could spot a deer or elk long before the rest of us.

We did not see the passing of our dear son coming, nor did he. He was working to become an equipment operator for a contractor. He was trying to get ahead with his finances. Jesse had a love for life and was trying to become a better man. He dearly loved his nephews and nieces. But God had a plan for my son’s life, and it was not to die old and full of years with his children and grandchildren around him. That thought makes my heart hurt so much because as his father I desire that for all my children. That is what motivates me, my family and the love shared between us. But God knows what is best.

So, as you read this today, I hope and pray that you will be like the church of Berea in Acts 17 and search the scriptures. I pray that you will contemplate where your soul will spend eternity. I would beg you to turn to Jesus Christ and ask for your sins to be forgiven, that your name would be placed in the Book of Life mentioned in Revelation, that by faith and faith alone you would trust Christ as Savior and be saved. Then when you time comes to step into the next phase of life’s path, you and your family will be hopeful, even through the tears and grief.

The bottom line in life is answered by your response to the question, “Who is Jesus to you?” Is he a lunatic who deceived people? Is he a liar who has led many astray? Or is he the Lord of Glory, the Incarnate Son of God, the Redeemer, your Savior, the sinless Son of God who is the second person of the triune Godhead?

Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Won’t you dial him up today and find the hope and peace you need in this transient world?

Yes, God exists. If you have received Jesus Christ as Savior, He exists inside of you through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit! If He is not your Savior, why not invite Him in today?

I will close with one of my favorite Bible passages: John 3:14-21, Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Dave Carroll is an area missionary with InFaith, America’s oldest Christian home mission agency. He is also pastor of the Wolf Creek Baptist Church. You can contact Dave at 406.459.8935 or [email protected]