Has your Life Mattered

 

Has your Life Mattered  

 

If not, why?

 

April 2, 2025

 

My dad had written in his will that he wanted to be buried in a Christian manner.  As his youngest child, I understood what that meant.  My dad would not be known for his great accomplishments in business, nor as a man of great wealth.  But his life matters in that, from a child, he told his three children that the Bible was the written word of God, that God loves us and desires a personal relationship with each of us.  My dad played football before they had the safety gear; he went both offense and defense in college, and had to quit because he had destroyed his knees.  We were on the under-resourced side, no car, so dad walked to work almost three miles. He had a second job he also walked all the places where he sold uniforms to anyone who needed them.  Yes, my dad did what it took, wrapping ace bandages around swollen knees to make sure his family had food, and clothes, and a house to live in.  My dad died at 59 years of age. Not one person who spoke at his funeral or after said anything but that he was a hard worker, but many told stories of how my dad was there when they needed him.  One that stuck in my mind was a person who said your dad was known for when someone lost a love one to be the greeter of those who came to the house, and was one of the greatest servants we knew.  My dad made a difference in my life, and we buried him in a coffin and in a way he called a Christian manner.

 

What I am going to share is my opinion, you do not have to like it or agree with it, but will you give thought to what I’m going to share?

 

Bob Rice will not be known for his career at 3M, nor for wealth, even though he has been blessed by the Lord.  In fact, at the age of 27 in Victoria, Texas, in a hotel room, he encountered the God who loved Him, and that night he asked Jesus into his life.  It took God sending many men into his life and he learn to listen and learn from them.  His first mentor was Dry Hole Jack, as he was known in the oil business.  His first 19 wells were dry holes, but he and eleven other very successful business men were invited to Laity lodge by Howard Butt, and all of them ask Jesus into their lives.  Jack was in his forties when this happened, and I was just a young guy who was impressed with him wanting to spend time with me.  He was new in his walk with the Lord, and all he could teach me was that God loved me, and I needed to know that, because I was struggling with how He could love a rascal like me.  Now I’m soon to be 83 years of age, and I have been blessed to have a few men who have come and asked if they could spend time with me to learn how to be the man God desires them to become.  I like my dad want to be buried in a way that brings glory to my Lord.  Yes, I want a memorial service, but not to talk about my accomplishments, in that it would be a very short service, and a waste of time.  

 

But I want people to know what my big God could do with a rascal like me when you come to the understanding that it's not about you, it's about God.  Let me be clear, He gave me all that I have, the faith to receive Him as Lord, to submit to His authority, and to show me how to understand that life is not found in stuff, but in relationship, and the most important is with Jesus Christ.

 

My first and foremost relationship is with the Lord, next my wife of almost 60 years, and my daughter and son-in-law.  Then a great relationship is with those two amazing young men who refer to me a Bob-Bob.  Next are my brother and sister, who have been a blessing to me, and the many men who have blessed me in both my business life and as brother and sister in Christ.  I could tell you about many very special people, like pastors and men like Bob Keese, who asked me at the age of 26 to go to a Bible study on setting men free.  I thought I was free and resented the thought that anyone would think differently.  But that was the beginning of a six-month spiritual battle for me, understanding freedom was not found in religion, but in Jesus Christ.

 

Now I know this may not sit well with some of you, but will you open a Bible and read Romans 10:9-10, and ask the Lord to give you the faith to believe what you read.  If you do so, it matters not what you have done, Jesus will change you not only now but for eternity.   And your life will matter, for in Christ there is life now and eternity.  If you miss a relationship with Jesus, and put your faith in yourself, or religion, and not a personal relationship with Jesus, eternity without God is going to hell.  It is all about your choice.  Joshua 24:15, “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

http://fromourbackporch.blogspot.com/