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Farewell

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Farewell

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Farewell

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In his last week in Cincinnati, Dan Preston gives some advice for the congregation. He shows us that although we have challenges, everything will be okay.

Transcript

[Dan Preston] This is my last opportunity to address the PM congregation. And I wasn't so foolish as to say I'm not going to cry, but I want to try to hold it to three times or less, so you can keep score at home. I don't believe in long goodbyes, in fact, I don't believe in goodbye at all. Goodbye means you're going away and you're not coming back. I have news for you, I'm like a bad penny, I'm going to keep turning up every so often. Certainly, we will be back to visit family, we will be back for camps, for winter family weekend, and to visit on occasion. But it is time for us to bid farewell. Farewell, and goodbye are two different things. If you're a word nerd, farewell comes from Late Middle English, whenever that was, and it's a combination of two words. You might guess those two words are fare and well. Fare as in, how do you think the Reds will fare this year? I think that question may have already been answered, but there's hope springs eternal, especially for the Cincinnati sports fan. Fare as in, how are you doing? How are things faring for you? And well as in well, as in good.

As we prepare to leave Cincinnati, that's the admonition I'd like to leave you with today. Do well. Do well. I'd like to share with you today two things that I've learned over the past couple of years assisting Mr. Myers here in Cincinnati. Now, some of you might say you've been here two years, you only managed to learn two things? I did learn more than that, but I can't fit it all in one sermon. The first thing that I think I've learned over the past two years that will help us as we go forward in our efforts to do well in life is this. We don't have problems, we just have challenges. We don't have problems, just challenges. Many those of you who have been around and chatted with Mr. Myers long know that's what he'll often say.

Early on, when I began training, I'm sitting in his office and we would be counseling with someone and perhaps someone would come in with some sort of an issue, something going on and they would begin to tell us what was going on, you know, and some of this stuff was pretty heady. You know, somebody thinking they're the two witnesses, or whatever. Well, okay, it wasn't quite that bad. But some of this stuff was pretty shocking, at least for me as a new guy. And I'm thinking, "Oh man, what are we going to do? Do I need to call 911? What should we do here?" And I'm on the inside panicked a little bit. And I look over, and Mr. Myers is there, nodding his head, smiling, and holding it all together. I also learned I don't want to play poker against him. He's got a pretty straight face. And as people would go about telling us the issues they might be dealing with in life, his answer to them would often be, "Wow, that's a real challenge, isn't it? It's a real challenge." And it wasn't said in a way to belittle or minimize what people were going through.

But he was helping them to see, and he's helped me to see, we can look at situations in life in one of two ways. We can look at them as a problem, as an insurmountable brick wall, or we can look at them as a challenge, an opportunity. An opportunity that perhaps no matter what has happened, we can choose what to do next. Even if we've messed up, even if we find ourselves in a bad situation because we put ourselves there, we have an opportunity to do what's right next. And oftentimes those challenges might not be quite as bad as we thought.

Let's turn to the book of Isaiah 1, Isaiah 1. The book of Isaiah, written primarily to Judah, but as you go through and read the first 39 chapters of Isaiah, you see God was using Isaiah to address both Judah and Israel, the rest of the nations, and by extension, us today, some of the challenges they were having, and they were big challenges. Isaiah 1, we will pick up a little bit of this story here. Isaiah 1:4 says this, says, “Alas,  sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, full of it." More issues than a magazines stand. "A brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward. Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment."

They were having some challenges. They were having some challenges. They were having challenges following God, understanding what it is they needed to do next. They lost their way. But the fascinating thing is, by the end of the book, towards the end of the book, we see some tremendous encouragement. Isaiah 41. Isaiah 41. Isaiah 41 starting in verse 8. Isaiah 41:8 says, "But you, Israel, are My servant. Jacob whom I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham My friend. Are you who I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from the farthest regions, and said to you, ‘You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away." Despite all they had done, God didn't cast them away. He says, "Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

When we fall short, when we have a challenge, when we're not righteous, God is. He upholds us to the strength of His right hand. We stumble, we fall, we make mistakes, and it's a problem when we don't try to work those mistakes out. But if we are earnestly and honestly making an effort to repent, serve God, to repent from sin, we're just enduring a challenge. Sometimes we need to step back for a moment and realize that things look big, things look awful when there are financial troubles, health troubles, all sorts of troubles, things that seem overwhelming and ominous and unconquerable. But as the people in Judah and Israel were told, "I am your God. I am with you. My right hand will lift you up." This is a challenge but a challenge that you can make it through.

This past winter, during the ABC school year, I had an opportunity to accompany the ABC students on a field trip down to Fountain Square. They went ice skating down there. I think this was mid-February, somewhere in there. And we had a lot of fun. And while we were there, I happen to mention to Aaron Dean that we're right next to Carew Tower, and Carew Tower was at one point, it's not now, the tallest building in Cincinnati but it still has the tallest observation deck, one that you can go up and overlook the town. So, we did that. We went up there and as it turned out, being up there, I was the only native Cincinnatian and so I was kind of pointing out some of the features, some of the history of the town, Union Terminal, the Incline, Mount Adams, where the old ball field was, Music Hall, Lynette Fenchel's house, that was what they were most excited about. Actually, they had to point it out to me, but I won't mention who pointed it out, but you can probably figure.

So, as we began to leave, all the students began to go down the steps there to the elevator. If you've never been to Carew Tower, you need to go, okay, because you ride a normal elevator for the first 40 floors, you take a teeny tiny little elevator about the size of a telephone booth. There used to be telephone booths for some of you. You go about another four floors, then you got to walk up narrow little stairs for another two or three floors. But you finally got to the top. At any rate, they began to walk back down, as they began to walk down, I found myself the only one there. And I looked down over my town, the city I had grown up in, I began to think about this town. I couldn't help as I looked, I had music playing in my head. "Baby, if you ever wonder, wonder whatever became of me." Some of you know what that's from, others don't. I'll give you a hint. Google Les Nessman and "Turkey's Dropping" and that'll tell you the whole story about WKRP in Cincinnati. But at any rate, as I looked down, I began to think, you know, leaving my town, that's a challenge, but this isn't a problem. I'm leaving a ZIP Code, God's not leaving me.

Problems come when our life doesn't have purpose or doesn't have meaning. Israel began to have problems in Isaiah's time. We don't have problems, our life has meaning. We can turn to John 15. John 15, Christ is beginning, as we heard in the sermonette here, to talk to His disciples and is beginning to give His farewell address to them at this point in time. And notice what He says, John 15 starting in verse 5. He says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in Him bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned." Being an unfruitful branch, being cut off from the Body of Christ, that's a problem. That's a problem Judah began to have. It's something we need to consider in our own lives. It's something we need to examine daily. What are we doing with our lives? Am I doing well? Am I living out a life that honors Christ and God, honors the sacrifice? How am I doing? And I think if we do so regularly, we can honestly say, we don't have problems, we have challenges. We have challenges. If we are faithful, we are still a part of the Body of Christ.

Now, of course, one of the challenges we have sometimes is to figure out exactly what part of the body I am. Paul speaks about this in 1 Corinthians 12, starting in verse 12. 1 Corinthians 12:12, Paul talks about a challenge that they were having in Corinth. 1 Corinthians 12, starting in verse 12, he says, "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ." We're having an issue with unity here. He says, "For by one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body— whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free— and have all been made to drink in the one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many." It is one body. We're a part of that body, we each have a necessary role that we play. Verse 15, he says, "If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I'm not the body,' is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,' is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where it would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?"

Standing on top of the Carew Tower, I was pretty happy. I was pretty happy. It was fun to be here assisting in Cincinnati, to be helping out with ABC, people, and friends I've known all my life. But I began to realize the place I belong is where Jesus Christ puts me. Jesus Christ is the head of this Church. He had a different place for my wife and I and our family to go. Maybe I'm not a hand anymore, maybe I'm a foot. Maybe I'm not a nose, maybe I'm a toenail. Who knows. But I still have a place in the Body of Christ, so I don't have a problem, I just have a challenge. Sometimes things change in life, transitions can be a challenge, but they're not a problem because we all go forward in our race, whatever challenges are handed to us in life, remember, it's not a problem, we are a part of the Body, we have in store for us eternal life. I heard about in the sermonette the promises were given. We are one Body. We don't have problems, we just have challenges.

The second thing I learned over the years and working with Mr. Myers was this. It'll be okay. It'll be okay. Early on, we were working on something and I can't remember exactly what happened. But things did not go exactly according to plan. And it was some detail that I was given responsibility for, and I wasn't sure exactly how things were going to go down. I happened to be standing back there at the soundboard by my good buddy Tom Disher. And I remember saying, "Wow, what's the boss going to say about this? He's not going to be happy." Tom answered me, and he said, "Oh, I can tell you exactly what he's going to say." Bracing for the worst, I said, "What's that?" He said, "He'll shrug his shoulders and say, 'That's okay. It'll be okay.'" Sure enough, that's pretty much exactly what happened.

In the course of the past two years, I've come to understand more than I have ever understood before in life, no matter what challenges or problems come, it'll be okay. It's not about just the task at hand, it's not about a particular trial. It's not about health, finances, or moving across country, it's about life as a whole, it'll be okay. Romans 8:28, we read a very familiar and very comforting scripture. Romans 8:28 says this, says, "We know… And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called, those who are called according to His purpose." All things work together for good to those who love God. We talked about in point one, we're part of the Body. We love God, that's us. All things work together. It'll be okay. It'll be okay. We don't know how exactly, we just know it'll be okay.

We see through the glass, the mirror dimly, it says in 1 Corinthians 13:12. You don't need to turn there but I did take the liberty of printing out a couple of different translations of Corinthians 13:12 where Paul mentions that. The Amplified Version puts it this way. It says, "For now, in this time of imperfection,” that is human physical existence, “we see in a mirror dimly, a blurred reflection, a riddle, an enigma, but then, when the time of perfection comes, we will see reality face to face. Now I know in part are just fragments, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known of God." We don't know always but God knows. God knows the part of the Body we are. The Message version puts it this way, says, "We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing Him directly just as He knows us!”

We know in part now, we'll get the rest of the story as Paul Harvey used to say, a little later on. When I began thinking about this, this turn of phrase, it will be okay, I got curious. And I did what all you millennials do, and I googled it to see what I could find. It just so happens there's a book entitled "It Will be Okay." This is, admittedly, a children's book but it helps for adults and stress too. It's written by Lysa TerKeurst and is illustrated by Natalie Moore. It's a story about a little seed and a little fox and the farm that they live on, and the Farmer that took care of the farm. Let's read a couple of excerpts from it here real quick. You probably can't see it from here, my kids are older now but I'm still in that mode where I read children's books, I turn and do it like this, so.

It says, "In a dusty shed, on a rickety shelf, hidden in a cozy packet, lived a tiny seed. Day after day, Little Seed watched the Farmer come into the shed. The Farmer's strong hand would reach into the packet, and he would say, 'I have a good plan for you,’ each time he selected a seed. Little Seed knew the Farmer was good and kind, but he did not want to leave his home. Little Seed liked living inside the cozy packet on the rickety shelf in the Farmer's dusty shed. He didn't want to go."

A little later, we're introduced to Little Fox. Little Fox is a fox that lived on the farm and a big storm came along, washed out his home so he had to go find a new place to live. As it turns out, he ran into the barn, he soon became fast friends with Little Seed. One day the Farmer went in and picked up the seed. Says, "The Farmer went outside knelt down, he pushed little seed under the ground, into the dirt down into a deep, dark, messy place. 'Now, Little Seed, this is going to be different and it might seem scary, but it'll be okay, you can trust me,' said the Farmer. Little Seed wished he were inside the cozy packet on the rickety shelf in the Farmer's dusty shed. 'I want to trust even when I can't see, but how in the world is this good for me?’" Little Seed understands the Farmer has his best intentions at heart, but it's kind of hard when you don't understand what's going on or what the end is. Of course, we do understand in the end. In the end, Little Seed sprouts and grows. Says, "After a while, Little Fox started to see how the Farmer took care of them…" Uh-oh, I ruined the story. I kind of skipped ahead so ignore that part about the seed growing. It says, "Freshwater for Little Seed, sweet berries for Little Fox. He wasn't even quite so afraid when he saw the dark shadows or heard the howling wind. Little Fox was starting to believe that the Farmer was good, the Farmer was kind. 'My friend,' whispered a sleepy Little Fox to Little Seed, 'Go to sleep, it'll be okay.’" Little Seed does sprout and grows into a big strong tree. He and Fox continue their friendship and Fox has a new home in and around the roots of Little Seed."

Life's scary when we have to go outside our comfort zone but that is a part of our call to do well. If we can manage to trust the Farmer, God, it'll be okay. It'll be okay. I had the privilege of helping out with the ABC students doing substitute teaching every now and again. And this past week at the dinner, the students were very kind to honor myself and Mr. Phelps, who had helped out in that role. And over the course of teaching somehow along the way, they picked up on a couple of our favorite scriptures and they nailed it right on the head. They brought me a little plaque, I meant to bring it and I forgot today. But it's of Jeremiah 29:11. You can turn there if you would, Jeremiah 29:11. It's probably a memory scripture, and you probably know it well. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future, and a hope."

God doesn't bring us so far in life to make us miserable. He might give us a curveball or two, keep it interesting. I had a friend who used to drive a 4x4 pickup truck, and his favorite thing to do in the wintertime was, you know, when they scrape the parking lots of the shopping malls and things like that, they usually pile the snow up kind of in a corner somewhere. And he would go out of his way to make sure he parked his wife's side of the vehicle up on that pile of snow. So that, inevitably, she would have to get out and crawl down a pile of snow. I said, "Why do you do that to her?" He said, "I like to keep her honest," said, "I like to keep her on her toes."

God is not trying to set us up for failure, but sometimes we get a curveball or two. Sometimes things happen. Sometimes things happen not exactly the way we plan, and we deal with them. We're given an excellent reminder of this in the Bible when we read the story of Abraham. You can begin turning to Genesis 12. Genesis 12, what we read about the promises there to Abraham. But notice what was told to Abraham in Genesis 12, starting verse 1. Genesis 12 in verse 1. He says, "Now the Lord had said to Abram: 'Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and you and all the families of the earth shall be blessed.' So, Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran." People ask me, they said, "Isn't it kind of crazy to change careers at 40 years old?" And I said, "Well, it's better to be in 75. So, I got that going for me.”

Verse 5, he says, "Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan." He'd been living in Ur, it was pretty comfortable there, he was doing okay. We know he was financially fairly well to do because we're told that he had acquired servants. So, things were comfortable there. It wasn't an easy change for him to make, but he picked up and he did it anyway. He picked up and did it anyway. Unless you think my message today is about me, it's not. It's about you, it's about us, it's about the Body of Christ. Each of us has made the choice to pick up and leave, to leave something.

People ask, how did you come to do to this decision that you're going to move from Cincinnati to Charlotte? I said I made that decision 22 years ago in the basement of a house right up the street here. When I went underwater, I came up a different person. Those of you who believed, baptized, have made the same commitment. We've committed, we will go where we are led. Jesus Christ is our King, our Master, our High Priest, we will go where He leads. How? How can we go when it's hard to do like Little Seed said? This is a simple, one-word answer. That answer is faith. As time went on, and the reality of moving began to set in, I thought more and more about Abram. What it must have been like to leave Ur of the Chaldees. What possessed him to say, "Yeah, I'll do that?" Why did he do it? Why did he make that decision? I'm thankful he did, we're blessed today. You and I still reap from the promises given to Abraham. But why did he do it?

We're given an answer in Hebrews 11:8. Hebrews 11:8. Fun fact. The baptismal trough I was baptized in, same one that my mom and dad and brother and sister were all baptized in, a few years apart, and I trust that at some point somewhere in time, Mr. McClain changed the water. Anyway, fun fact. Hebrews 11:8 says, "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And when he went out, not knowing where he was going.” He really had no clue, not the foggiest notion. We know where we're going. We know our destination is continue to be a part of the Body, to be in the Kingdom of God, but we just don't know exactly what that road looks like.

We take time, we set up 401(k)s, we buy houses, we do all those things we need to plan for our lives, but the honest truth is, none of us ever know exactly how it's going to play out. Each of us lives by faith. We live by faith. That's the only way that we go forward. That's how Abraham went forward. That's how Abram became Abraham. I'm reminded of a Who song, "Join Together," has lyrics that go something like this. "I don't know where I'm going, but the season's right for knowing. Why don't you join together with the band.” Jamie, put that on list for Winter Family Weekend. We don't know where we're going sometimes or exactly how we're going to get there, but you know the time is right to find out.

Today is the time to have an act of faith that says God, I will go, I don't quite understand, but I will follow You. I will do well because You have promised me, You do not leave me, You do not forsake me. We promise God we will do well. Continuing in verse 9, he says, "By faith he dwelt in a land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him have the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Abraham knew it'd be okay. He knew somehow, someway it'd work out. By the grace of God, he'd get there. So will we.

Verse 11, it says, "By faith…" excuse me. Skipping on down to verse 13, it says, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland." Whether that's Cincinnati, Charlotte, Detroit, it makes no difference. We're all looking for a different home. We've seen what this world has to offer. We know it can't offer us anything, that only God can offer is that real city, the city we desire to be a part of. It's not one that's defined by a ZIP Code, by its football team, or even its chili, but we seek a new country. And that's going to be set up and run the way God intended it to be.

Verse 15 says, "And truly if they had called the mind that country from which they had come out, they would have that opportunity return." Now, if we keep thinking about it long enough, what this world has to offer, I think you can begin to pull us back, to draw us away, to make us turn around to not be the part of the Body that Christ is trying to put us in. Verse 16 says, "But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." Think of this, we read in Isaiah all the things that the people had done, we can translate those easily to ourselves to the nation we live in today.

But here it says, "God's not ashamed to be their God." Why? Why is God not ashamed? They didn't just talk about going to a new country, they didn't just desire to have a better way of life, they took the steps and went forward to do well, to do what was asked of them, to be a part of it. That's a decision we all make when we choose to put God first. Let's submit ourselves to be a part of the Body of Christ. They went past all the challenges that life handed them, they believed it would be okay, they stepped out on faith. They did well. What an amazing example for you and I.

As time goes on, and we boldly go where no man or at least some of us haven't gone before, sometimes that means saying farewell to something. It's simple, but it's hard to do like balancing your checkbook sometimes. Some things are harder to do than others. The apostle Paul certainly faced a lot of challenges, a lot. Towards the end of his life, we see him dealing with his impending death. Now, it's tough to say that this was Paul's biggest challenge because through all the shipwrecks, through all the beatings, through the guilt I'm sure he experienced, death may have been welcome for Paul. But we get some key insight when we look at his writings to Timothy as he says his farewell, 2 Timothy 4:6.

2 Timothy 4:6. 2 Timothy 4:6, this was a section of Scripture, a section in the epistles of Paul. Actually, I was blessed to have the opportunity to help teach two years ago at ABC, it was a privilege and an honor for Mr. Myers to allow me to do that. It's kind of the epistles of Paul, it's kind of his baby. And it would be like me handing over the keys to my Mach 1, if it ran, to one of my kids, and saying, "Go and run with it." So, I consider that a privilege to have been allowed to teach from this section of Scripture. But we get some wonderful insight as to Paul's mentality here as he went forward.

2 Timothy 4:6, it says, "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departing is at hand." Paul is pouring himself out, the drink offerings, when they're poured out, there won't any way you're getting it back. And wine whenever the sacrifice seeped into the ground. It's not like some sacrifices where what was left to be given to the priest, there was no getting the wine back. He knew the end was there for him. He left it all behind. The word for depart here is interesting. The word for depart here actually comes from the root word, as used in a military sense, to break up camp, means it's time to pick up stakes, move on.

Verse 7, he says, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." He fought, he engaged in a struggle. And we live a life of faith when we allow ourselves to be led. It's a struggle, isn't it? But he finished the race, he endured to the end, so must we. He kept the faith. He didn't just not lose it, but he kept it. He was faithful to faith. Verse 8, he says, "Finally, there's laid up for me to crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing." Victory is what awaits each and every one of us, it's what kept Paul going. Despite all the challenges that he faced, he knew it'd be okay. It should encourage us and help us as we go forward to do well.

Let's begin to conclude by looking at the farewell Jesus Christ left the disciples with. Matthew 28:19. I want to stress that even though we are leaving you, of course, you're not being left alone. Mr. Myers, of course, is still here, just it means that you have to endure more of his jokes and fewer of mine. And I will let you decide whether that's a win, lose, or draw. Matthew 28:19. Matthew 28:19, he says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." At the GCE, Mr. McNeely presented a session on disciples and making disciples. That's our job. That's what we do as part of the body. It's not just something that the ministry does, each and every one of us by the way we live.

Verse 20, he continues, he says, “'Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen." Christ didn't say goodbye, He said farewell. He said do well. He didn't spend time crying or talking about how sad it was to leave. He didn't take His last few moments to give any sort of doctrinal correction or explanation. He said do well. He concentrated on what He wanted the disciples to do, what He wants us, by extension, to do today. He wanted them to preach and teach the gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ in the coming Kingdom. He wanted them to do well, do well in preaching the gospel, whether that's on our knees praying for the success of Beyond Today. All the guys upstairs in the cave who work on making it happen. Note to the guys upstairs in the cave. I will be performing random inspections, so I expect you all to keep doing the work.

Maybe you've got an idea, maybe you've got a thought how you can help, maybe you got an idea for a blog or an article, take time, do well, put the effort into it, the effort into it to show, that shares your faith, why it is you go forward, maybe about a problem that was actually just a challenge, maybe about a time you came to understand, it'll be okay, maybe it's simply… and I say simply because again, it's simple, just hard. Maybe it's simply living our lives as Jesus Christ did, taking every moment of every day to do well. To do well taking care of each other, spending time on the phone and a visit, taking a meal, cleaning gutters, whatever it is, do well.

Christ left with that admonition, He wanted us to serve wherever our talent lies, whatever ability we're called to give. We must do well, we must show an act of love for one another. And He concludes, "I will be with you always." It's a promise no human can make. We have wonderful things like Skype, Facebook to stay in touch, and we should use those. But it's a promise no human being can make to say “I will be with you always.” Christ kept His promise. He has been faithful. He's been with His Church throughout the ages, He will continue to be with us through our challenges, telling us it'll be okay. Our physical life here sometimes, as Abraham did, we have to say, "Okay." We have to pick up, we have to move around, we have to go be strangers in a strange land, do things that are much harder than we imagined, do things that don't fit into our plans. Those are challenges, but it'll be okay because what keeps us together is this promise. Our bond is a unity, the commission that Jesus Christ gave us. Preach the gospel, teach others, be faithful doing our Father's business. Above all, do well.