I remember

a friend of mine who, when you asked him how he was

doing, he would always reply "same old brand,

pastor, same old brand."

For my

friend this was probably true because he set up his life

to view it that way. I never remembered him to start

anything or have an original idea or go anywhere. He just

kind of existed. I always wondered what his pastor would

have said at his funeral. It appeared his faith was in

the same old rut. He would just sit, soak and sour in the

pew. I also wondered what it would have been like to have

been his pastor and tried to motivate him into useful

service to God, the Church and his fellow man.

As I awoke

this morning and took out the dogs, I detected a hint of

fall in the air and it truly excited me. It could have

been (just a little bit) that I was excited to be heading

up to Fairbanks to minister to the men in the moose and

bear camps in Alaska. I do know, however, that as the

seasons change, I look at it as God's way of saying to

us, "A new cycle of life is about to begin and you

can change and begin all over again also."

Imagine

that a little tiny 1/2-inch salmon will be born in a

stream in interior Alaska hundreds of miles from the

ocean and immediately begin a journey that will take him

hundreds of miles down to the ocean. He or she will then

live for two to three years in the billions and billions

of gallons of sea water hundreds of miles out to sea.

One day God

says to them, "It's time" and now this six- to

70-pound salmon turns his or her head around and begins

the long trip home. This salmon will go through many

dangers on this trip home. They will encounter low water,

fast water, rapids, eagles, bears, foxes, otter, beaver,

storms, fishermen and fisher women, even snow and ice,

but yet they never stray from their mission and purpose.

They finally reach the very spot that they were born

three to five years earlier and begin the cycle of life

all over again by spawning and dying.

I believe

we could learn a lot from the "cycles of life"

that God set up for these wonderful creatures. He has set

up a cycle of life for us through His son Jesus but many

choose not to listen, or to not be involved with His

"bride," the church.

Unlike the

wonderful salmon, God has given us a wonderfully

dangerous thing called "free will" and this

"free will" can take us to heaven or to our own

destruction in a place the Bible calls Hell.

As the

crisp air of fall approaches, use this new "cycle of

life" to renew your faith and mission in life and

ask God what he wants you to do.

Wouldn't it

be a tragic thought to just be the "same old brand,

pastor, same old brand." P.S. You're getting older!

Another season has passed!

[The Rev. Dr. Knox Herndon

is the pastor of "His House Community Church"

and a substitute school teacher in the Fayette County

school system, and a former Army chaplain. The church is

currently meeting in the American Legion Log Cabin across

from the fountain on the Square in Fayetteville. Prayer

line 770-719-2365; e-Mail [email protected]