IMPORTANT QUOTE FROM PAUL HARVEY

( I sent this out to a bunch of people as a mass e-mailing today. I was not originally planning to post it on my blog, but rather only to share it as an e-mail, but my wife, Mary Ann liked it so much that she urged me to post it, so here it is: )

Most of us were saddened to learn of radio commentator Paul Harvey's death on Saturday, February 28 at age 90.

Ironically, in the sermon I'd prepared the day before his death, I used a quote of Paul Harvey's as an illustration. Paul Harvey certainly spoke many "gems" on his radio program and in speaking engagements. The Paul Harvey quote that had the most impact on me is,

"...think overtime trying to anticipate and avoid unerasable mistakes..."

It's from his piece entitled, "To My Son" which is on an audio tape from the mid-1970s called, "Our Lives, Our Fortunes, and Our Sacred Honor".

It's true God will forgive the sins of the repentant and that He can make, "the foulest clean". YES, God forgives sins, but Paul Harvey's quote is about the consequences of what we do...which many times can never be fixed. Driving wrecklessly and taking a life in the process would be an example.

There are FAR better men than I am...FAR better pastors who have had their lives ruined by a one-night stand with a beautiful woman or by embezzling funds or something like that. I know I'm not immune to any such sins! I know I can easily fall, if I "take my eyes off the Lord".

That quote is one I've often come back to.

My sermon was from 2 Kings 20 about King Hezekiah of Judah. He was a good king. That chapter even tells us that God miraculously healed him when he was deathly ill. But he did at least one really STUPID thing which became an unerasable mistake, and ultimately had dire consequences for the Kingdom of Judah. The Paul Harvey quote was a great illustration...and the fact that Paul Harvey died this weekend makes the quote even more powerful and memorable.

so remember to "...think overtime trying to anticipate and avoid unerasable mistakes..."

And if you'd rather hear a Bible verse, as well, remember that Psalm 119:105 says, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." The more we're reading God's Word and following it, then the more likely we will "anticipate and avoid unerasable mistakes".