“No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.” – Ecclesiastes 8:8

In 1993, 33-year-old professional golfer Paul Azinger was diagnosed with lymphoma in the right shoulder blade. He wrote, “A genuine feeling of fear came over me. I could die from cancer. Then another reality hit me even harder. I’m going to die eventually anyway, whether from cancer or something else. It’s just a question of when. Everything I had accomplished in golf became meaningless to me. All I wanted to do was live.”

Then he remembered something that Larry Moody, who teaches a Bible study on the tour, had said to him. “Zinger, we’re not in the land of the living going to the land of the dying. We’re in the land of the dying trying to get to the land of the living.”

Golfer Paul Azinger recovered from chemotherapy and successfully returned to the PGA tour. His bout with cancer has deepened his perspective and he wrote: “I’ve made a lot of money since I’ve been on the tour, and I’ve won a lot of tournaments, but that happiness is always temporary. The only way you will ever have true contentment is in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I’m not saying that nothing ever bothers me and I don’t have problems, but I feel like I’ve found the answer to the six-foot hole.”

This life on earth is short and fleeting. Eternal life resides in the person of Jesus Christ. Today in prayer, praise the Lord for victory over death and that we have eternal life in Him.

“The world is but a great inn, where we are to stay a night or two, and be gone; what madness is it to set our heart upon our inn, as to forget our home.” – Thomas Watson

God’s Word: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” – Psalm 23:4

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2003, Devotional E-Mail DEVOTIONS IN ECCLESIATES AND SONG OF SOLOMON pkennedy@devotional.com