Excerpt of the sermon from 1/20/08

Sleeping on the Dotted Line
by Pastor Tom Colburn

Good Morning! You know it's a simple fact of life, both in this life and with respect to the life to come that if we stand still long enough, odds are we're either gonna get run over or left behind. Fence sitting is fatal. But...motivating is magic!

It was just another day on the job. Inspector Callahan stopped in a diner and got himself a hotdog. Handing him a phone number he asked the cook to do him a favor. "Call the police and tell them there is a 211 in progress across the street," he said. "Be sure they know it's in progress."

Callahan had every intention of staying put and eating his hotdog while the uniformed police arrived to stop the robbery. But it didn't work out that way. No sooner had he stuck a big chunk of dog in his mouth when the alarm went off at the bank. Darn! He'd have to handle this one himself.

He unholdstered his gun and began crossing the street. A man wearing a ski mask backed out of the bank toting a sawed off shotgun. "Hold it!" The inspector shouted. The man took a shot, but Callahan was faster. One down.

A second robber jumped in the getaway car and sped toward the Inspector who was still approaching on foot. Callahan shot. A direct hit through the windshield. Two down.

But the first one was still alive, wounded, laying on the sidewalk with the shotgun inches from his hand. Callahan stopped a few yards away aiming his gun at the downed robber.

"I know what you're thinking," Callahan said to the man. "Did he fire 6 shots or only 5? Well, to tell you the truth, in all the excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being this is a 44 magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky?"

The robber looked at his shotgun then back at the Inspector. Callahand continued, "Well, do ya punk?"

Gotta love Clint Eastwood playing Dirty Harry; Inspector Harry Callahan. In another movie in a similar scenario Harry said, "Go ahead, make my day!"

If we stand still long enough, odds are we're either gonna get run over or left behind. When you die, do you want to take a one thousand year nap and then wake up to a "maybe I'll make it?" 

Or, if you're not alive when he returns, do you want to wake up immediately upon the second coming of Jesus and begin your guaranteed eternity with the King right from day number one? Which option tickles your fancy?

If sitting right here today, in this sanctuary, your spiritual life is teetering on the fence, one foot in the world and the other in the kingdom, Friend you've got to ask yourself one, simple question. Do I feel lucky?

...(more to come)