Message at Men's Fellowship

Last night my wife and I had a good time at the Men's Fellowship at Central Corps. I was the speaker. I had spent hours preparing my power points to illustrate my talk, but Vincent Wong could not get the the thumb drive to work on his lap top. It's a mystery to me that only the IT experts can explain. In the end I had to speak without my power points. I just rambled on for more than an hour on "Reflections, Rejoicings and Regrets of an old soldier." And the folk were very patient listening to my ramblings! God bless them.

I came to know The Salvation Army before the war when I was only five years old. What a lot has happened in those 70 plus years. People have come and gone and here am I among the very few remnants in 'God's waiting room' (heard this expression for retirement over BBC just before we left home) The summons may come any time, and I am in a reflecting mood. I rejoice in the victories of the past, and regret the wrong choices I made.

Choices are the switch tracks of life. What I am and do today is the product of all the choices I have made through the years. The freedom to make choices is one of life's privileges. I've made rotten choices, bad choices and good choices.

I hope and pray during this time spent in 'God's waiting room,' (perhaps I should change the metaphor to 'last lap of my journey') I be given the wisdom and grace to to seek what is best. I've been conducting a series of Bible studies on the letter to the Philippians and one verse keeps coming to my mind this week - Phil.1: 10 (NASB) "to approve the things that are excellent" meaning "put excellence to the test." In other words I am challenged to go beyond the average or good and to choose what I consider the best or excellent. Life is made up of the choices we make each day. It is my daily prayer that I be given the wisdom to make right choices everyday.

We are urged to choose excellence because the Lord is coming soon.

Excellence means purity, productivity and sense of purpose. I still keep trying by the grace of God to be the person He wants me to be.