Year: 2024 Page 11 of 12

Lorena and I drove a couple hours to a funeral today. We really did not know the person who had died, but I knew her sons really well. We had studied together at Texas A&M. It was really good for us to be there. This event and the passing of our neighbor that we learned about yesterday has given us a strong wake-up call that we are just passing through this life. It was great to have the drive with Lorena, too. We stopped at Hico, Texas–one time on the way there and one time on the way back and back. Both stops were spectacular. We had zero thoughts on the other handful of times we passed through there, but now realize that it is a MUST to stop there whenever we go to Austin, San Antonio, or when we drive to Mexico. The talks on the way there were challenging, and on the way back were reflective. Our conclusion, at the end of the day, was that some things are within our control and some things are neither in our control or even knowable. We don’t know what is coming in the next year or so, but we are willing to go wherever we are either led or compelled to go.

I think this video is at the core of why I am a Christian. It is a question that deserves an answer. I know why I am a follower of Jesus and this is a big part of it. I have the sense that many would reject Christianity even if Jesus were raised from that dead. That makes me sad. A lack of belief is one thing and I understand that some look at the facts available to them in do not believe, but a willful choice to ignore reality brings me to the point of despair. John 8:32–And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Reading scholarship about the historicity of the resurrection, the veracity of the Biblical canon, the history and sociology of early Christianity, and to somewhat of a lesser extent, Christian Philosophy and denominational doctrine have been an avocational interests of mine for the last 35-40 years. Even aside from my own personal experiences of Christ which, of themselves are sufficient for belief, I long ago arrived at the conclusion that it would be irrational to believe Jesus had not physically raised from the dead. After that initial insight, more reading has just made that understanding more firm. The biggest effect it has had on my life is with situationally inconvenient events. When the flood is rising it might be situationally inconvenient to leave your house by the river in the valley for higher ground, but it is objectively true that, if you stay, you will drown. I have the sense that, because of my personal experiences with Christ, I would be a Christ follower whether I had this knowledge or not, but it is actually quite freeing to have a rational basis external to my own experience for my belief.