LAKE OCONEE — Augustine in his confessions wrote: I was weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart when I heard the voice of children from a neighboring house chanting, “take up and read; take up and read.” I could not remember ever having heard the like, so checking the torrent of my tears, I arose, interpreting it to be no other than a command from God to open the book and read the first chapter I should find. Eagerly then I returned to the place where I had laid the volume of the apostle. I seized, opened, and in silence read that section on which my eyes first fell: “Not in revelry and drunkenness, not in licentiousness and lewdness, not in strife and envy; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” No further would I read, nor did I need to. For instantly at the end of this sentence, it seemed as if a light of serenity infused into my heart and all the darkness of doubt vanished away.
What about for you? Have you had a conversion? Changing your life dramatically toward God.
Easter is a good time to reflect on your life and see if there needs to be a change. It is not too early to make your Easter Sunday plans. Please join me for the ninth annual Easter Sunrise Service at 7 a.m. at the Reynolds Plantation Pointe Pavilion. The Reynolds Chorus will sing, and everyone in the community is welcome. If that is not an option, feel free to join me at 9 a.m. at the Reynolds Plantation Lake Club or at 11 a.m. at the Lake Welcome Center. There will be special activities for children at the 9 a.m. service. Please bring your family and guests with you. Make this the year of conversion in your spiritual life. Wishing you much love and much light.
—The Rev. David W. Key, director of the Baptist Studies Program, is involved in recruitment, admissions, student life, counseling, placement, and development functions for Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. He teaches in the Contextual Education program. He is the founding pastor of the Lake Oconee Community Church at Reynolds Plantation. Contact him at (404) 727-6350 or dkey@emory.edu. His
column appears weekly in this space.
Life Lessons
Easter is a good time to reflect on your life
- Life Lessons
-
-
We shape our lives in the choices we make
Eleanor Roosevelt once said: One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words.
-
God desires for you to use good judgment
Larry Burkett (on his radio program) spoke of a young couple who wanted to buy a home, but felt it to be too expensive for them.
-
What’s your decision-making process?
A husband and wife, prior to marriage, decided that he’d make all the major decisions and she the minor ones.
-
The folly of human nature
Jerry Lambert tells us the story about a school teacher lost her life savings in a business scheme that had been elaborately explained by a swindler.
-
Happy New Year and prosperity in 2012
Frances Havergal wrote this wonderful poem about the New Year.
-
A Christmas poem to reflect upon the season
G. K. Chesterton wrote the following poem about Christmas:
-
Hoping that you sing with angels at Christmas
Martin Luther, the great Reformer, wrote the following poem about Christmas:
-
Make sure to know or find your purpose in life
Social critic Russell Kirk has defined decadence as the loss of an aim or object in life.
-
Learn to appreciate people, no matter their status
A man was once boasting to an acquaintance, “We have a whole room full of furniture from France that goes back to Louis the 14th.”
-
Mistakes happen so don’t lose sleep over them
A young business owner was opening a new branch office, and a friend decided to send a floral arrangement for the grand opening.
- More Life Lessons Headlines
-
We shape our lives in the choices we make






