Find comfort and hope in Jesus’ words

Words are essential to life. At times, they can be hilarious.

I recently came across a series of explanations written to insurance companies to explain why certain accidents happened. The list included the following:

“Coming home I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree that I don’t have.”

“The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.”

“In order to avoid a collision, I ran into the other guy.”

“The indirect cause of the accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth!”

Words can take us down paths of learning and past experiences to bring both wonderful and painful memories.

Not long ago, I came across an article that had been written by a young lady for our church newsletter. She was 19 years old at the time and she had written of her top reasons for believing our church was great. She included these:

“The field out back is a great place for youth night games.”

“If you leave the building without being hugged, the sun must have fallen from the sky.”

“Children’s Church teachers have no problem giving kids mayonnaise and telling them it’s pudding.”

“And the number one reason our church is cool … one word, POTLUCK.’’

This article was bittersweet. It brought back memories of a vibrant follower of Jesus. It also reminded me how 13 months later I spoke at her memorial service.

Words can overwhelm us. There are so many of them available to us through books, Google, text, twitter, radio, TV and normal conversation.

It is said that the average woman speaks about 23,000 words a day and the average man about 17,000 words a day. With that much opportunity to take in words, we have to exercise discretion in what we listen to. We can waste our time on worthless chatter or we can absorb what helps us and gives us assurance in day-to-day struggles.

There is powerful encouragement and wisdom in what Jesus has said. For example, when two sisters faced the death of their brother as recorded in John 11, Jesus’ response was “I am the resurrection and the life.”

These words were powerfully evident recently. I grew up with a guy named Loren and I have known he and his wife Donna for a long time, sharing many experiences together. He unexpectedly died on Feb. 5. There was no warning; he went to bed and did not wake up. Everyone was shocked. But this is what his wife told me.

She said, “I went to wake him up. I could see him lying in bed as I started down the hall. Suddenly, Jesus was there and he said to me, ‘Your husband is gone. He’s with me. It’s OK.’ ”

I want words that mean something in life’s hard moments. Jesus’ words do that. Have you read them lately?!

This story was originally published July 16, 2016 at 3:07 PM with the headline "Find comfort and hope in Jesus’ words."