And one day all who trust Christ as their Lord will leave earth for heaven and bad news for a land where the news is only good.

Hard times can cause us to wonder if God still loves us. Apparently unpunished sin can cause us to think that his justice is fickle. But neither is true.

Welcome to 2007. We're now in January, named for Janus, the Roman god of doors and beginnings. He was pictured with two faces, one looking to the past and the other to the future. Unlike Janus, you and I cannot see tomorrow, or even later today. But here's one fact I learned over the weekend: it's always too soon to give up on the future. Always.

You and I will be invited to the Church of the Now all day today: to "live fully" in this life, believing that it is our eternal reward and that we are God. Let's not think that such beliefs are new. Or that they work any better in Dallas than they worked in Eden. This morning is a good time to return the universe to its Creator and choose to live for him.