The Beltway Sniper Strikes Again

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 16, 2002
(HEBREWS 9:27)

And just as it is destined that men die only once, and after that comes judgment.

The Beltway Sniper strikes again. How sad I was to hear Monday night that a woman was shot in Falls Church, Virginia at a Home Depot parking lot. It has been verified that she is another victim of the person or persons that have been terrorizing Washington DC, and the adjoining Maryland and Virginia suburbs these past few weeks. I would like to ask everyone reading this today to pray for the families of those who have been killed, as well as the full recovery of those who were shot but survived. Also, PLEASE PRAY for the person, or persons, that are perpetrating this horror on those who live in this area of our nation. Pray that whoever is responsible will be caught before anyone else is killed or injured, and that God will bring them under conviction for these horrible acts of murder.

There are two lessons that I want to share with you from these tragic events. The first is a very real confirmation of what the Bible tells us when it says that NONE OF US is promised tomorrow. While those who have been killed in these senseless acts of violence have become a national story, the fact is EVERY DAY people are killed in car accidents, and die in a multitude of ways. Many of those who die each day, were simply living their day to day lives and had NO IDEA that they would not see tomorrow. The second lesson is that without the Lord in our life, we are capable of the most heinous acts that you could imagine. Without Jesus guiding our lives, we are able to do things that you would never believe possible.

A theme that I have dealt with often is the fact that we are not promised tomorrow. The Bible calls our life a "vapor". The fact is that tomorrow is promised to none of us. It is something we look forward to, plan for, but must understand is not a guarantee. Today, this moment, is the only thing that we can be certain of. Let me encourage you to live this day as if it might be your last. Love your family. Love those people in your life. Have hatred or bitterness to no man. Love the Lord your God who you will be spending eternity with. Make a difference in someone's life today by living the life that God has called you to live for Him.

Sadly, those who have rejected Jesus in their life, are capable of things that are above our wildest imaginations. What happened on 9/11 is a perfect example. To use commercial airplanes full of innocent people as "flying bombs" to destroy buildings with more innocent people, is the ultimate in depravity! However, if you look back through history, we can see almost unlimited examples of the sickest behavior by people who had chosen to live their lives void of Christ. I think back on rebellious periods of my life and am ashamed and saddened by things that I have done before. I can't even imagine that I was the one that did them. Thus the scripture, "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature". You see, when a person accepts Christ into their life, they actually become a new creation. The old is passed away and they become new. Prior to that new birth experience, in the old state, there are no rules, no laws, other than those each man puts upon himself. There is no absolute truth as we find in God's Word, since the only truth is what each man believes in his/her heart at the time. You can understand that under these conditions, people are capable of anything, including the incredible evil that we see each day in this world we live in.

I love you and care about you so much. My heart breaks when we have events like the one we are currently dealing with in the Washington DC area. It is a byproduct of our life in this sin-filled world. These types of events will be with us until Jesus returns and God finally brings a final conclusion to this world as we know it. Until than, we are asked to live each day in service to God. We wake up each morning and do our best to be faithful to what He has called us to do that day. We have no control over when our life here will end. Only God will say when our work here is over.

So in the meantime we treat each day like the gift from God that it is, we serve Him each day to the best of our ability, and do what we can to share His love with those that we come in contact with to help them know Jesus as well. Let me take this opportunity to ask you one question. IF you die today, do you know with 100% certainty that you will be forever with the Lord? If you have to pause, or can't answer that question with anything but YES, please go to this link. Simply pray before you read the words you will find for God to open your heart to receive what He has for you, www.liveprayer.com/SPlan.html.

Death is part of this life that we live. But PRAISE GOD.... when Jesus walked out of that tomb on the third day... He conquered death.. death has no more hold over those who believe in Jesus! The Bible says, "O death, where is thy sting?" Death to the child of God is simply passing from this life into our eternal life with the Lord. So we live this life without fear of what the madmen in this world may do, we live our lives without fear of what a sick sniper may do. Paul said it best when he said, "for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain". AMEN!

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

If I can help you in any way you can contact me through my personal email at bkeller@liveprayer.com.

***I am excited to let you know that the Liveprayer Daily Devotional is now available via audio each day. Simply go to http://www.liveprayer.com/DailyDevotionalAudio.html. Click on "Search by Category", then locate DAILY DEVOTIONAL. I want to thank Ed Morando for making this service available for FREE to Liveprayer.com.

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