Last Friday while heading for Castle Rock, I got a call from one of our members telling me of the tragic suicide of a student at Douglas County High School.  I decided to stop by the school to visit her sons who knew him and I got there during one of their lunch hours.  Hundreds of youth were swarming like bees in the commons area, standing in groups, sitting at tables or on the floor and all a bit stunned by the news.  So many different students were there trying to look the same, and I wondered at what it must be like to be a teenager today.

          And I wondered how many of them are without God.  And what does a teenager today hang on to if he or she doesn't have faith in Jesus?  Can they count on love of their families?  Many can't.  I saw dozens of kids talking on cell phones or driving new cars.  Will they find a meaningful life in their gadgets or wealth?  It's doubtful.  They'll wonder at the meaning of life just like kids of every era.  It was an interesting 45 minutes watching and waiting, but mostly wondering what the future held for these young people, our future workers and family and, hopefully, church members.

          "Plan your work and work your plan," we often hear.  There's no substitute for doing your homework before starting a project.  Jesus understood the importance of this when He said, "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower.  Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?" (Luke 14:28)  He meant that while we must trust in God, we can't forget to do what's necessary - to do the work as we put our plans into action.

          We're in the midst of planning to build our first Worship Center.  We've purchased land and have gone to significant effort to submit plans to county and city.  We've received fine offerings to help build it, and today after worship we'll have our first large fellowship gathering there to check the place over.  I wonder if we're ready for all that lies ahead.

          Early Christians quickly made a plan, and theirs was very simple:  Proclaim Jesus as Lord and never back down.  No matter what people did to you, never abandon the Lord.  If you or your loved ones were threatened, don't back down from the Lord.  Their plan led many to their deaths, but it laid the groundwork for Christianity to overtake the Roman empire and much of the world.

          You and I need a plan for life too.  If we don't have one to follow, we'll end up adrift in a sea of temptations that will sink us in destruction.  My greatest fear for the future has less to do with Epiphany Church than for the whole Church.  Will the youth of today be able to carry to the torch of faith into the future?  Will our children know the difference between right and wrong, and most of all, have we already given them so much they think they won't need God?

          Open your bulletins to the reading from Isaiah 55.  When I copied our bulletins, I'd planned a message based on sports imagery, a sort of Christian game plan from God.  But now that seems too shallow.  We twentieth century people need to hear Isaiah's 25 centuries-old wisdom.

          "Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near..."  God wants us to seek Him now, not later.  Salvation can't wait till we have more time!  God's Word is so available today - TV, radio, the printed page, satellites beaming the Gospel everywhere.  God won't knock us over the head and drag us into His Kingdom; He wants us to seek Him, and call upon His name.  The Holy Spirit is always trying us to bring us to God.  That's what Luther meant when he wrote in his Third Article:  "I believe that the Holy Spirit calls me by the Gospel, enlightens me with His gifts, sanctifies and keeps me in the one true faith..."  The first part of our plan is to seek God rather than things that vanish and fade.

          "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts..."  Definitely, ours is a wicked world and it's getting worse.  But we're all part of it.  No matter how good we think we are, we're all sinful in need of grace.  In His plan for our life, God wants us to turn away from our sin.  When we do, we'll begin to discover lasting peace.

          His Plan continues:  "Let him return to the Lord that He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will pardon.."  In other words, return to the Lord.  Being sorry is not enough.  Being sorry without faith leads to despair.  Sorrow over sin is good, but forgiveness requires faith and hope.  We must turn from our sin and return to God, the only One who can help us.  Return to the Lord, and let Him pardon us.  Only in Christ can we have an anchor to keep us from breaking up in the turbulent seas of our times.

          Max Lucado, prolific Christian writer, as a youth lived in Florida where he had a sailboat.  He wrote that when a bad storm was coming, he enlisted his friends to help lash down his small boat with every possible rope and cable he could find.  He had it covered with ropes.  An old sailor saw this and told him all those ropes were be sure to sink the boat.  "Tie your boat to four anchors spread apart and give the ropes some slack to move around when the wind comes," he said.  "Lash it tight and it'll break apart in the winds."  Lucado said the little boat was tossed all over but it didn't sink.  While others sank, his survived because he gave it some slack.  I believe it's the same in our faith.  We need anchor of the Word to keep us from drifting, but we don't need to be tied so tightly that we break apart with the first storm that comes along.

          There is no one God can't love and nothing we've done that He can't forgive.  A father is struggling with his rebellious son.  He says, "Billy, I don't know what to do with you.  You drive me crazy, but I still love you.  I love you no matter what!"  That's God - He loves us no matter what.  You and I need His forgiveness, but we also need to forgive others and we need to forgive ourselves, something that can be difficult.  Both youth and adults can feel they're so evil or useless that no one can help them, and they end their life.  But there is no canyon of sin God can't bridge, and no river of doubt He can't cross.  Everyone at some time will consider whether he should just end his life.  But when we have hope and know we're loved, suicide has no attraction.  It's a terrible way out that hurts the living, and casts serious doubt about the future of the one who has taken his life.

          Isaiah's plan for life is wrapped in the mystery of God.  He says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways..."  Isn't that the truth?  We make a plan and it doesn't work.  We open a business or a new product line and find the market has shifted.  A man has a plan for them to be married, and she says no.  A husband and wife plan to have a child but it doesn't happen.  He tries his best to be a good husband and still she runs off with someone else.  We have our plans, but that doesn't mean they'll succeed.  Our plans are not always God's plans, our ways are not always God's ways.  But His ways and thoughts are better.  Let God's Word change you for the better.  He knows what we need, and in His love, He'll see we get it.

          A coach needs a plan to win the game.  To wear the victory ring, he has to do his homework.  Our plan may work or not, but God's plan always works.  His Plan for us is simple.  Hand off your sins to Christ and let Him run in for the score.  That's all.  Hand off your sins to Jesus.  He's already taken all our penalties and bruises.  Though Christ played a perfect game, He was blitzed by the Devil and hauled off the field and buried under the garbage of our sins.

          But He made a comeback!  The Son of God and Son of Man died, but rose again!  He took a beating, but the game was not lost!  Just when it looked like Satan had won, Jesus pulled off the greatest comeback the world will ever see.  He did the impossible -- He won the Big Game for us.  And when we have faith, we're no longer losers.  Paul said, "We are more than conquerors through Christ." (Romans 8:37)  Jesus has won the game and now He offers us eternal life.  Those who trust Him are more than winners.  We get an eternal trophy that can never be taken from us.

          Six or seven years ago Carol, Brian and I had Christmas dinner with Charlie Waters and his family when he was still defensive coach for the Broncos.  Charlie was a legendary safety for the Dallas Cowboys during their glory years of the 1970's.  He showed us some of his trophies, and told how his two Super Bowl rings had been stolen.  A year later, Charlie and Rosie lost their real trophy.  Their oldest son Cody died from a mysterious illness.  It was their darkest hour, but they did not despair because they knew the Lord and had Christian friends to hold them up.  Charlie Waters had won many prizes in his life, but his son Cody, a fine young believer, got the greatest prize of all -- life forever with the Lord.

          Being a believer doesn't mean being a spectator.  Christians can't just sit in the stands.  Christ may have won the game for us, but He has work for us to do.  We can pass on His love, His hope, His victory.  Pass it on to our youth so they can share our hope.  We need to recruit more believers, share our faith and give people hope that through Jesus they, too, can enter the end zone and spike the ball in the sheer joy that the big game is over and they've won with the Lord!

          His name was Marcus Gabbard, he was 17, and somehow he'd lost the will to live.  Now he leaves scores of sad and confused friends and a torn-up family.  I think I need to go back to DCHS and watch those students again.  Maybe pray for them and find a way to share the hope I have.  Want to join me?  Maybe that's why our church is here - to help some kids find the Lord.  What do you think?  Amen.

Copyright © 2001 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.