Eschatologies

Welcome to have you not read a podcast seeking to answer questions from the text of scripture for the honor of Christ and the edification

Of the Saints before we dig into our topic. We humbly ask you to rate review and share the podcast.

Thank you I'm Andrew Hudson and joining me today are Michael Deere and Chris Giesler today

We're gonna take a general question and maybe a more specific follow -up. So the general question is

How can a regular person wade through the multiplicity of eschatological views now

It's often said that it is important, but I find myself utterly confused on Which direction to believe?

Michael the question itself is Focusing on the fact that there are many eschatological views and then how to wade

Through them the idea is that It's important to land somewhere

But the questioner says I find myself utterly confused on which direction to believe and that's understandable given how much how many technical terms and how much context is built into Any given eschatological system if perhaps you were to pick up one of those, you know

Four -views books or three views books or five views books on eschatology.

You might find yourself Agreeing with all of them at some point and not understanding where particularly they're disagreeing or why?

And that's a good signal that it's not something that Has mattered to you a great deal and someone is saying it should matter to you and it does matter

But you're not sure why so I think one of the ways to wade through the various eschatological positions is to first read the scriptures

Read portions of the scriptures on the things that matter the most like so for example when we talk about eschatology or the doctrine of last things we're trying to pull together

Many different passages in the Bible that talk about these last things and when we think about last things we think about that last day of judgment the great day of judgment

We hear about the sorting of the fish good from bad the sheep from the goats the wheat from the tares we

Think about that last great day being the day of resurrection Resurrection of the dead so much focus is we will see

Jesus. We will see him just as he is We're going to be like him. There's the idea of the glorified body that we are justified.

We are being sanctified We shall be glorified So there are a variety of passages that are just absolutely clearly about that last day and I think that by studying those passages several of the parables out of Matthew like Matthew 13 would be good to to read

Matthew 25 is a good chapter to read first Corinthians 13 great chapter to read on all of these last things the last portion of first Thessalonians 4 there are a lot of passages to read about the last day and I think by reading those and Meditating on them you'll be encouraged and by thinking about those main themes that like the main clear things

That you'll begin to notice how often they come up in The preaching of the Apostles or in the language of Scripture elsewhere

And you'll begin to see how it kind of these themes about the end How they kind of flow in through all manner of passages not just the big ones

But in this fashion what we're talking about is trying to keep What's the expression the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing and the main thing is the person in work of Christ we know that he was born of the

Virgin Mary fully God and fully a man Righteous in all of his life fulfilling the promises of God Died upon the cross for us and for our salvation was raised the third day for our justification

Sent it to the right hand of the Father was seated there as king of all the rulers of the earth and that He will reign from the right hand of the

Father into all of his enemies or places a footstool for his feet and and then He returns in victory and glory

So we have great things look ahead to great things look forward to and so when we think about last things

It's not really about Gog and Magog And the political beast or a spiritual antichrist or these things the main thing is to keep our eyes on Jesus He's the one who owns the horizon.

He's the one whom all Christians should be eagerly awaiting his return that our our readiness has to do with our posture now our worship and our service our

The whole mindset that we have about the end times or the last things should be focused on on Christ Watch watching for his return.

Well, our vigilance will be expressed by our Diligence in serving Christ with an eye to him being the master who will return

Yeah So like the idea of the eminency there is addressed with the idea of being a faithful servant of Christ I'm ready ready for his return not being unfaithful and disregarding.

Well, you know, it's gonna be a long time Yeah, so the application and again this term eminence the eminence of Christ's return and that's one of those

Theological terms that's just loaded with all kinds of freight and it's it's most often expressed in terms of the readiness of the slave

His perspective or her perspective about the coming of the master The master may delay for a long time.

The master has gone on a long journey He has gone to a far country and we have we have no

Information about when he is going to return All right.

We just we don't have any clear signals We can't use newspapers to decode the Bible or anything like that Jesus himself said so so it's not a matter of us looking at the clouds or searching the digital cloud for Information about Christ's return is about us being ready and living our lives ready for him to return in any moment

So that's why I would say to begin and to start now that does matter. Okay, so that that does matter

Now from generation to generation has been all manner of speculation about which famous person fits which prophecy in the

Bible concerning the end times or what nation may fit the Predictions or the prophecies but that is certainly not the main thing or the day year

Formula and all that type of idea Yeah a lot of speculation there and I don't think it would be necessary to wade through all of that if I think there'll be a

Very miserable and profitless exercise for someone in this situation asking this question to go wade through all of those speculations that have

Changed from generation to generation Because and the reason why those are all so unsteady and unstable is because they were not

Fixated and anchored to the main thing now. It does matter your eschatological view

Does have an impact on how you read the Bible? Because how you read the Bible should have an impact on your eschatological view now

You may have been given one you may have been handed one by someone you love who's been discipling you and they

Encourage you to read the Bible and see things in a certain way and teachers are a blessing ultimately all of us even me as a pastor as a teacher as a husband and as a father the things that I say and I teach should be

Subjected to close scrutiny from the scripture I was getting some close scrutiny from a young man

Sunday morning after the church service about a passage in Corinthians And he was just coming back to it again and again and again and I'm like, well

You know, my answer isn't you should trust my viewpoint because I said so right it's it's well

You're making some interesting points. It's been a little while since I've studied that passage I guess I got to go study it again because again,

I want to know I'm submitted I need to be submitted to whatever the scriptures say so if you have someone who's doing their best to submit themselves to the scriptures and not

Bringing in a bunch of system to kind of cover for the scriptures or to say now it says that but what it actually means is

And if so you have to remember that the best way the plainest Clearest best way to interpret the scriptures is with the scriptures themselves as they look at Christ.

So beyond Just keeping the main thing the main thing How do you read those other passages like Matthew 24?

Mark -13 Luke 17 Luke 21 Revelation right first Thessalonians 5.

How do you read some of these other passages and how they all fit together? How do you read the book of Daniel?

You know, there's sure and there's a lot of important questions there isn't there and it's good to be curious It's good to think about that.

And so I would say if you're wanting a Help a tool to help you wade through There are books study helps that would kind of put things into parallel and you can kind of see how people read it differently and then you

Have to learn over time why they're reading it differently because they have different starting points They have different assumptions and so they ask different questions and expect different answers

That doesn't mean that there's no right answer, but you have to learn The starting point before you can understand what they're saying in the scriptures

Okay, so I would say if you're gonna start anywhere in doing a study on eschatology

I would start where things are clearest and then move from where it's most clear to where it is less clear

It's not that it's obscured and made impossible to understand. That's not God's desire in giving us his word

There are parts that are more clear. Remember the old Wisdom in the Old Testament about the justice system by the word of two or three witnesses.

Every word is established Well Matthew 24 mark 13 and Luke 17 and 21.

Okay all together those three Gospels all Have a passage called the

Olivet Discourse and when you read those together You get two or three witnesses and three witnesses and they're all saying similar things and then you can

Read what it would have said in all three places and you get a lot of clarity that way I would recommend if you're going to start anywhere to start there

That's where I started and then I think if you're you know I like it said a regular person as opposed to a not not regular.

Sure. I'm regular person but yeah waiting through the different views when you're reading through the

Bible and you come across a phrase or A word that you don't understand, you know looking those things up But then also see is that phrase you somewhere else in the

Bible very important before going outside the Bible to see how People have defined it see if the phrase is used elsewhere in the

Bible and get the context It was used in the Bible that way you have that context So then when you see how other people have defined it

You can see are they using that in the context or not in the context and I think what Michael was saying about the main

Thing is so important keeping Jesus the main thing we have what we believe and then we have how we're called to live and Oftentimes what we believe can influence the way that we live

Yes in reading the scripture and getting closer to God. We shouldn't only be concerned with What we believe the doctrine we should also examine ourselves to see if we're living the way that He wants us to live again those

Influence each other what you believe influences what you do and how you live But that can also be examined to bring you back on course if you see in scripture as you're reading and that we're commanded to pray or to do certain things to love your neighbor all of the

One another's that you have in scripture We should be doing those things and if what we believe is getting in the way of that It's okay to study and to learn but we should also

Be more Christlike as we're walking the Christian life be doers of the word

Yeah, and so I know people who have a different point of view than me and have helped me in that I consider myself an

Optimistic, you know when it comes to eschatology, I think Christ has the victory and all of that But in my personal nature,

I'm pretty pessimistic I see things happening around me like it's really bad and I can be pessimistic and kind of cloister and turn into a hermit

I have a friend Who his eschatological view is very different than mine

Kind of we lose down here and yet the way that he lives is very optimistic

You need to be out there. You need to be doing things. We need to be engaging with the civil magistrates

We need to and you're like you sound you know what? I believe I should be doing right? So based on my belief system, so it takes all kinds of people and we don't learn in it in a vacuum

It's not just you in the Bible. You've got the Holy Spirit to guide you He's given us the church and you're not gonna learn it all at once.

It's a process And so being okay with that process, maybe it's messy. Maybe you're talking to someone and it's hard that might be part of it

It might be that they need you or you need them to encourage you in a different aspect So these conversations are not worth dividing over like we talked about the

Millennium Being the thousand years of peace that Christians like to fight about. Yeah. Yeah, right.

That should not be the case All right I think we have a follow -up a kind of example question that someone might ask

That would engage different eschatological views sure do so, let's see how you go about this

Isaiah 6520 is a common verse used by dispensational

Apologists to claim that the idea of a millennial kingdom is not just taught in Revelation chapter 20

This verse says that people will have long lives But will still die which fits with their idea of a millennial

Jewish Kingdom so in Isaiah 65 and verse 20

I think the context is helpful to go back to verse 17 and I'll be reading from the

King James because that's the part that I have on my iPad That does not require

Wi -Fi and my Wi -Fi just went down So in an age of no Wi -Fi you go old -fashioned

Says for behold, I create new heavens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembered nor come to come into mind

That's interesting, isn't it? I create new heavens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind

Now I'm interested to hear more about this. What is this? What is what are these new heavens and what is this new earth?

The instruction comes but be glad and rejoice in forever in that which

I create Yes, I do. I want to rejoice in this new heavens and new earth Yes that you make and I'll rejoice so much that I won't even remember the former stuff

I mean, that's the level of this joy. And so I'm ready for this creation, right? He says I create a new heavens and a new earth.

I'm ready for it. And he says rejoice in what I create. Yes Lord I'm ready to rejoice in what you create and then he says for behold,

I create Jerusalem. Mm -hmm Rejoicing and her people a joy. So what did

God just do there? He just said I create new heavens in a new earth rejoice in what

I create. I create Jerusalem and he said rejoice in what I create I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy and I will rejoice in Jerusalem and join my people

Now that's the beginning of verse 19 So that that opening tells us what he's talking about Now, why does he need to create new heavens in a new earth?

And what about this former that shall not be remembered nor come into mind? Well a little bit earlier in Isaiah, he has talked about the the heavens growing old the earth

Decaying fading away the heavens being rolled up like a garment the earth

Being moth -eaten and so on like the whole thing is just falling apart It's like look at this wretched old heavens and old earth boy

It is wore out and and I'm doing away with change. Yeah, and he does away with it So you when you're reading through Isaiah, it's all part of a ongoing prophetic narrative and you've been told already by this point that the that the old heavens and the old earth are being done away with now in one sense you might read that from a

Certain point of view right and ask a logical view and say oh, oh, where are we gonna live? I like this planet earth and I like standing on it, even if it's a little bit old

Okay, even if it's a little worn out Younger It's worn out

Hard living that's right makes it look older than it is, right and I like the stars I really am a big fan of the stars and bow.

I want to miss all those stars I'm gonna miss this older That's not what he's talking about when he says he does away with heaven and earth the heavens and the earth the passing away

Notice what he says he's creating and when he creates the new heavens in the new earth

It means he's creating Jerusalem as a rejoicing and her people of joy. What's wrong with the current Jerusalem? He finds no joy in the current

Jerusalem all throughout Isaiah. You can tell he finds no joy in the current Jerusalem they are wicked and they are rebellious and they are he is not pleased with the stewards of the

Old Covenant Right in Hebrews. It says he he found fault with them the those who were supposed to be faithful in the

Old Covenant So here he says I'm gonna make something new So in the Bible you have all these synonymous terms of a new creation new covenant new life a new song

Here a new Jerusalem. All right, and we know from Galatians 4 and Hebrews 12 what that new

Jerusalem is It's coming to Christ coming coming to heavenly

Mount Zion Heavenly Jerusalem and so God is saying I'm creating I'm rejoicing in Jerusalem Enjoy my people and then we begin to hear

These descriptions and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voice of crying

There shall be no more thence an infant of days nor an old man that hath not filled his days

For the child shall die and hundred years old But the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed and they shall build houses and inhabit them and they shall plant vineyards

And eat the fruit of them. They shall not build and another inhabit They shall not plant and another eat for as the days of a tree are the days of my people and mine elect shall long

Enjoy the work of their hands They shall not labor in vain nor bring forth for trouble for they are the seed of the blessed of the

Lord and their offspring Is with them and it shall come to pass Before they call I will answer and while they are yet speaking

I will hear the wolf and the lamb shall feed together and the lion shall eat straw like the bullet and dust shall be the

Serpents meat they shall not destroy hurt or destroy and all my holy mountains saith the

Lord what he just did there was walk through the fullness of the

Old Covenant curses in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28

Completely reversed them and not only just reversed them in equal measure

But went far beyond them in terms of blessing and the blessing he talked about here is greater than the blessings that he talked

About under the Old Covenant when he laid out the blessings and curses in Leviticus of 26 and Deuteronomy 28

Where he said choose life choose blessing through covenant faithfulness, but he's done with the old

Jerusalem heat that that's passing away He's gonna create something new. He's gonna do a new covenant and this Jerusalem is gonna be filled with every

Inconceivable covenant blessing you can imagine to the nth degree it's a beautiful section of poetry and it emphasizes all manner of Blessings of life the kind of life if you think about it the kind of life that would have been

Adam and Eve's in the garden if there was no sin a life not subjected to futility.

Yes, exactly so what we're seeing here is that the fullness of Blessing in the new heavens in the new earth the new

Jerusalem, which are Centered around the new mediator of the new covenant who is

Christ now at that point you have two directions to go with this okay, you can you can read this passage and say because of the poetic effect and the biblical theological connections to blessing and cursing in the

Old Covenant and how the Covenants are in the shape of creation and really reaching back to Adam and here's in the recreation of the heavens and earth

Well, what did Adam do to the first heaven and earth with his sin and brought the ruination of sin upon it?

We do we need a Savior and and this is what it is And we take this passage new heavens in a new earth and we read about how this is talked about in the

New Testament you could walk away from this passage and many brothers do and say we're not really supposed to be calculating the ages the age of children and talking this isn't really about Particularities of how the lion is going to become an herbivore.

Okay, even though it reads like that Yeah It reads like that But but these are every single one of them and we could spend a long time looking at each one of these images within this extended metaphor and we would see roots in the scriptures of these pictures and then how they are spoke about Here and find a richness of blessing and all manner of hope and joy in the way that they read

Without having to take it as a literalistic prediction of how the eating habits of Lions or the habitation habits tendencies of wolves and sheep.

That's one way to read it See, this is this is language that is speaking about blessing. It is largely symbolic, but it does speak

Ultimately of our life together with Christ. That's only going to be in the hereafter

Perfect that we have eternal life now, but there's also eternal life not yet. And so I would say for Many are

Millennials. They'll be reading this passage in that way. I would say optimistic on Mills, I would say certain kinds of post mill folks would read it this way for a another type of post mill very much concerned with the reinstitution of Sinaitic law throughout the the whole world as the means by which

Christ brings his blessings they would read this passage as Very much concrete prediction okay, and so they would read this not only as the reversal of the curses and the acceleration beyond all the blessings

But they would read it as Very much So the wolf and the lamb the lion all that is said about how old people will become before they die

That's all going to be true in the era leading up to Christ's return and that the post -millennial vision is depicted here in terms of the late stage millennial reign of Christ Which they would also say is not a literal thousand years.

It's And so someone like Doug Wilson would read this passage and say

Obviously, we're nowhere near this yet. We have room to grow. We have room to grow. We're in the toddler stage as a church

We've got a lot more ahead of us and that does Change a little bit on what you would then think about in the imminency of Christ's return you would not

You be saying we know Christ is not going to return until we see All of these signs come to pass first.

So this comes to a timing paradigm. Yes, I would say so So I would say either way

I could understand why either side would read that and as far as a dispensationalist

Concerned they would look at this passage and say this is how we understand the millennial reign of Christ Which is not yet and only over the

Jews The church having been raptured and removed out of the way so God can found to keep his promises to the Jews in the way

That he meant them in the Old Covenant Okay, so they would see that this would be the fulfillment of Old Covenant promises in the

Millennial Kingdom This is this is not about the church. This is not about Blessings in Christ for the church for Gentiles.

Is that primarily because it mentions we talked about the old earth Passing away and what will he create?

Jerusalem Jerusalem, and then he finishes with my shall not hurt or destroy my people in my holy mountain seemingly a reference to Geographical Jerusalem, which is in it's obviously a

New Testament We get commentary about what that mountain is or what Jerusalem is? Hmm, but with dispensationalist point to those two things.

Yes, because they're going to read anywhere geographical geological even this has to be the location of Jerusalem location of Zion over there, you know in That area of the world.

It's a geographical thing Not a theological thing or maybe they say this both The problem is that by the time you get at this point

Isaiah 65 there's been so much that has Spoken against that point of view it would not be consistent to read this and even as I read in the passage

When God says I'm creating a new heaven and a new earth and he says I'm creating Jerusalem He's not talking about two different things

He's talking about the same thing in the Old Testament when heaven and earth got up Overturned it was the end of an era an end of a regime

The the Sun went out the moon went to blood the stars fell out of the sky over Edom over Babylon Over Syria over Israel and Judah Babylon it happened over and over and over again

How many times did the stars fall out of the sky in the Old Testament? Several times and and there wasn't a future as past events, which also makes sense

Why the Jewish leaders when Jesus uses that language? They didn't start talking about the end of the world.

They took it person like he's attacking our authority System is coming to an end our regimes coming to the end because they're very familiar with that language and the earth

Again, when God comes down out of the clouds and judgment in the in the mountains melt Well Mount Horeb is still there.

Yeah, right. All those mountains are still there they didn't melt but was the expression of it's the it's the

Complete undoing of all that was seemingly firm and sure when the the islands hitch up their skirts and run away

The islands are still there But the expression is saying all the landmarks are gone when there's a regime change when there's an authority change

You don't you don't know the landscape anymore You don't know which way is up and that's the expression of the decreation language that comes along with judgment

So when God says and make a new heaven a new earth He said I'm gonna undo these things and I'll make something new There's gonna be a there's gonna be a whole new authority system

The passing away of the Old Covenant is something of critical importance in the

New Testament is talked about time and time again as Every single New Testament author says we're living in the last days

Last days of the Old Covenant and as far as this being Jerusalem, and what about the peace? They should no longer have this this war and death and so on and so forth he said that also in Isaiah chapter 2 and In Isaiah chapter 2 verse 2 it says and it shall come to pass in the last days

Last days of what last days of the Old Covenant that the mountain of the Lord's house Will be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all the nations will flow into it

Now if you're going to read that as geographical like you're doing in Isaiah 65 you have to say

That the all of the different stone Literal stone of Mount Zion has to be extracted out of its place

It actually has to be moved out of the Holy Land out of the Promised Land into some new configuration

Where all the other mountains that are important to the other nations are now supporting it in some fashion

Kind of like Jenga blocks of some kind. Okay, and then the people living on those mountains are going to Start climbing and they're gonna go live on Mount Zion all of them.

Okay, that is not meant to be a geology lesson a

Geography lesson. This is theology. Okay, so all the nations are flowing into this mountain the mountain of the

Lord's house Well, that has to be the rebuilt temple, right? Well the mountain of the Lord's house that there is a new temple

It's a new covenant temple and it's made of living stones and the new covenant temple is situated on Mount Zion It's the heavenly

Mount Zion and that makes all perfect sense in the New Testament so many people shall go and say come you let us go up the mountain of the

Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we'll walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the law

Where did the law used to come from? Where did the instruction and teaching used to come from Sinai Sinai now it comes from Zion There's a new lawgiver and he's got some other things to say

Some additional higher things to say and the Word of the Lord comes from Jerusalem All right the

Word of the Lord is declared from the New Jerusalem And he shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into Printing hooks nation shall not lift up sword against nation.

Neither should they learn war anymore Where these nations are not going to be at war with one another where?

When they are in Mount Zion Because we're too busy having communion together to keep fighting right the nations don't war in Zion We've come together as one in Christ.

It's all been settled there. Yeah, so this is so verse 4 is not a passage about world It's about peace in Christ for all the nations that come to Zion and guess who else is invited to come to Zion along with All the other nations verse 5

Oh house of Jacob come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord Jacob hey you come to you can come to along with all the other nations because you are not in Zion and you need to Come to Zion now

Isaiah is writing this to people who are living in Jerusalem So that's where I think To tie it together to the first part of our episode here to the last part

I would say I encourage the reading of the scriptures in this way where you are reading for what's there and not trying to read

To see how this may fit within the system that you've been given So I would encourage you to read it out loud read it time and again think about what's being said

Appreciate the metaphors and like you said Chris Look at these word pictures Reach back and see where you you first find them and see what they're being how they're being used now and how they're being in enriched with all manner of theological freight hope

Promise and that kind of thing. All right moving on to media recommendations Michael.

What have you got? Got another volume out of the new studies in biblical theology it's called biblical theology according to the

Apostles how the earliest Christians told the story of Israel and It's by a trio of authors who have compiled the research and what they do is they go through key passages in the

New Testament where they find Certain ingredients that make up a Summary of Israel story so like Stephen's account in Acts 7 exactly

So there are a lot of places they could go but they had to restrict their study to just a few so they went for the

Strongest passages possible where there's a lot of ingredients that show the Apostles telling the story of Israel and how it all fits together and so they talk about those things from Romans and Galatians and Acts and Luke and Matthew in various places and show the common themes throughout

That they weren't telling different stories about Israel they were telling an agreement the stories of Israel in light of who

Christ is and When you see that I think this is important for Christians as we're trying to think about those

Eschatological questions one of the biggest questions Christians have that lies beneath those eschatology questions is this how does the

New Testament relate to the old? Sure, and if we can see that the New Testament authors under the inspiration of the

Holy Spirit Interpreted the Old Testament if we can see how they did that and how they did that consistently

Then we will be given the model of how to interpret the Bible and then we'll be much more confident in our readings

I have a recommendation. I have to say Take this with a grain of salt because I've not gone through the complete website, but it was given to me

I was trying to describe a feeling that I had that I didn't know a word for and he's like check out this dictionary of Feelings, but it's called the dictionary of obscure sorrows

Wow Yeah, and I'll read this the word sadness originally meant fullness to be filled to the brim with some intensity of experience

It's not about despair or distraction or controlling how you're supposed to feel it's about awareness

Setting the focus to infinity and taking it all in The Romans call it lachrymae rerum the tears of things we call them obscure sorrows

So there was one I was looking through it and it describes like the feeling of the desire to fly

But not being able to so they put a word to it or different things interesting It's it's interesting for people who have experiences or thinking about different things, but don't know what to call it

And then are also interested in words and looking at it. I'm not sure who puts them together

It looks like some of them look French. Some of them look German and then they kind of give how they're

Pulling words from those languages to put them together to make these words. It's just kind of interesting

I think most German words are sad. Yeah trying to pronounce them is sad, too Composite words.

Yeah aplenty. I don't really have any media recommendations. Maybe if I were to piggyback just reading the scriptures as they're

Presented and thinking about them deeply and when you're studying a passage We like we just said look for parallel passages like like Michael was just talking about Look for how they were used previously those words

Do it doesn't make sense for mountains to be stacked on top of mountains You know, these are these are clearly evidenced in the words of the scripture

So instead of using an interpretive lens that I lay over top of the Bible move that aside

Seek what the word actually says so don't neglect Reading the

Bible without an interpretive lens. All right, Michael. What are you thankful for? I am thankful for my wife

I'm thankful for the time we get to spend together and to be able to Speak with her and and to dream with her and to imagine things with her appreciate her as my standout standalong my help meat and I'm just very very thankful for my wife.

I would like to echo that I started a new job recently that affords me more time with my wife

I'm praise the Lord and just being able to do that and to kind of see more of what's going on in the home

Obviously we talk and she's you know, keeping me abreast of everything that's going on But all of the appointments that she's keeping we have an air conditioner out now

So the repair guys coming and she's keeping track of this and she's got so many things going on that she's involved in and she's helping with and Raising the kids and instructing them during all of this and so being able to sit down and talk with her and I'm just glad to to have that time during this season to be with her more back before I Retired from the military to put it mildly.

I did not know what I was going to be doing Afterwards through a series of events the

Lord Opened up the opportunity for me to go to university and to be able to do it while getting paid to go do it to support my family while they

Provide additional education for me. I I think about just I never would have thought

That this would have happened in my life previously So I think the

Lord that there are things that he has prepared for us You know, there's quite often. I would like to know what's coming ahead, you know

I'm that type of guy, but his surprises are also beautiful and humbling So I thank