Much has

been and will be written about the new millenium.

If you are

able to even read this, then at least the printing

presses have not ground to a halt, and there is

"power somewhere!"

There are

many different philosophies out there from those saying,

"Nothing will happen," to those saying,

"Store up and wait for the proverbial meltdown of

life as we know it." Somewhere between those two

extremes is where I stand.

personally feel it is foolish to block out all the

information and do nothing. Remember the story of Joseph

in Egypt when Pharaoh received the dream from God about

the lean and fat cattle and the sheaves of grain that ate

each other up? Then Joseph's interpretation of the dream

was about the years of plenty and the years of famine

that would befall Egypt?

Joseph at

that time could have said, "I am just going to pray

and trust God to take care of me and our land of

Egypt." That would have been a great scenario, for

seven years, but then when the famine came for the

following seven years, they could have starved to death.

Please

don't misinterpret what I am saying. God is in his heaven

and will respond to the needs of mankind however he

wishes, whether we prepare for disasters or not, but he

did give us a mind and I feel he expects us to use it. As

for me and my house we will first serve the Lord no

matter what happens, but we will also be as prepared as

sensibly as possible.

Last week

My family and I flew up to Philadelphia and then drove up

to Arlington National Cemetery to bury my wife Dee's

father alongside all the other soldiers, sailors, airmen

and marines and family members who served our country.

It's interesting that we can all philosophize about the

issues of life and can go down any rabbit trail we wish,

but when the family is all assembled around our final

resting place, there are some very basic issues that we

will have to deal with.

Many of

these issues are spiritual ones. I always ask at a

funeral, "What would our beloved brother or sister

say to us today after they have walked through the valley

of the shadow of death and SEEN the other side of

life?" Here is where one's faith comes into play.

We hear

from God's word that Jesus is the same yesterday, today

and forever and through him and him alone can we have

eternal life. We know that he has gone to prepare a place

for us and if he has gone to prepared a place for us he

will come again and receive us unto himself that where he

is, there we will be also." John14:2.3.

Jesus is

the same yesterday, today and forever no matter whether

it is the Y-2K computer glitches of the year 2000, or

whether it is the persecution of the early Christian

Churches by Rome or by the "politically

correct" of the year 2000 (and I do believe that is

coming).

God's will

does triumph. God's word and his character will stand and

our greatest "meaning" in life, wherever we are

laid to rest, is summed up in our being a part God's will

and God's plan for this earth.

Are we

ready for the new millennium? We will be with these same

age-old, time-tested truths. Praise the Lord!

The Rev.

Dr. Knox Herndon is the pastor of His House Community

Church, 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]