The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Mark 8:34-37, “And He summoned the multitude with His disciples, and said to them,

‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and

follow Me. 35 For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life

for My sake and the gospel’s shall save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the

whole world, and forfeit his soul? 37 For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?’”

Have you ever lost something that you treasured dearly? Maybe some of you are

too young to have yet experienced that. Treasures change as you move through

life. Things that you loved as a kid seem silly now. What you value as an adult

may be a simple note you received on your birthday, a poem of three or four

lines, written by your mom or dad. My grandmother Anderson (Mimi) had an old

Singer treadle sewing machine. What she treasured, however, was not the machine

Itself, but a strand of thread her youngest son had tied to the treadle. She never

removed it. Each of us treasures something. But the measure of its value is determined

by how much we would give to retrieve it.

The news has recently revealed some horrendous acts that some have committed

against others. The most valued television personality has admitted having engaged

in such acts and has lost his position in the television industry. His salary was $25

million a year! That’s a lot to surrender in exchange for some momentary acts

against others. Now, the intensity of regret far exceeds that moment of pleasure.

Do you see how all of this plays out? You can’t do wrong and get by. The sense of

regret is both excessive and expensive. But, it cannot be removed. There is no

“turning back” of the clock. There is nothing to exchange for it. It’s “face the music”

time. Of course, the LORD can forgive you. But you have to repent and ask Him.

William Cullen Bryant may not have been a Christian. I’ve never known. But he wrote

some valuable lines I memorized as a teen. Read them and think!

So live, that when thy summons comes to join

The innumerable caravan, which moves

To that mysterious realm, where each shall take

His chamber in the silent halls of death,

Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,

Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

No regrets!

We love you desperately, and pray for you every single day,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”