Tony Funderburk

“You’ve got a mighty bright eternal future here, son.”

“Ah, thanks Father. I can’t tell you what that means to me.”

No, those aren’t lines from an old black and white movie. Although they could be. And too bad they don’t make movies with relationship-building lines like that anymore.

But anyway…let’s get back to that eternal future thing.

Isn’t it great to know you’ve got one? A bright future that lasts forever. It’s just plain awesome to think about. And even with my vivid, vivacious imagination, I can’t imagine how spectacular it’ll be. An apostle, named Paul, described it like this:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

So, no matter what you’ve ever conjured up in your head, you still haven’t seen or heard anything like what God’s gonna do. Or has already done. But think about this. The whole universe came into existence just because of words God spoke. And the universe is just a preview of coming attractions.

Wow!

Have you ever seen pictures of the microscopic world? Amazing, right? And have you ever seen high resolution videos of the beautiful rainbow of life in the ocean? Reminds me of a line from one of those old black and white movies where the main character said, “It’s a wonderment.”

And the mind-boggling details and shapes found in eyeballs when you look at ’em in photo magnification. So much intricate design and function in so little space?

But let’s go from the microscopic to the humongous.

Did you know there are 40,000 muscles in an elephant’s trunk? So, an elephant can use its trunk to lift hundreds of pounds and crush large fruit. But, get this. That same trunk can also pick individual leaves off trees. And after countless attempts and experiments, human engineers still can’t design and create anything like that.

Single-celled creatures that can live in a drop of water. Giant elephants and whales that can push down trees and sink ships. Can you truly believe it’s all by accident? I can’t. Because I see obvious design in everything around me. So, it’s impossible to imagine there would be no designer.

And yet, Paul said none of us has ever seen or heard what’s still to come.

I sure don’t want to miss out on it. I hope you feel the same way. Because it’s an eternal future so bright there won’t even be any night time. Whoa! There’s a reason for that. But I’m not gonna share that with you right now. Just know that there’s a place where you’ll never have to worry about death and dying. And I call it…

The Pure Place

I clamor for the clean life, and I never quite succeed.
I’m hunting for the high ground that’s higher than the sky.
I’m looking for the love-life…the kind that we all need.
And I’m wishing for the wonder that lives in my mind’s eye.

I want to find the Pure Place..that glitters like gold
I need to find the Pure Place..never hot or cold
I’d love to find the Pure Place..
Let the Light shine on my face..
No dreams I’d ever have to chase…
No bad that we could not erase…
I’d love to find..the Pure Place!

I’m searching for the sanctity that I never do quite find
I’m longing for the living days that never, ever end
And I’m thinking so theatrically, but at least I use my mind
To quest for the quintessence of my Forever Friend

repeat chorus…inst…repeat chorus and end

© 1998

Stay tuned,