 I'll begin here in Ecclesiastes chapter 11. I'm going to begin with an introduction and spend a few minutes in verses 1 and 2. So we'll begin with Ecclesiastes chapter 11 and verses 1 and 2 where Solomon is continuing giving words of exhortation and instruction and it's almost like proverbs giving proverbs and he says Cast your bread upon the waters for you will find it after many days Give a serving to seven and also to eight For you do not know what evil will be on the earth So this portion that we're going to be looking at tonight is One that emphasizes living by faith And Solomon is beginning and you'll see this as we go through this portion of scripture and all he's beginning This particular portion by the use of two very basic illustrations He's beginning at first by speaking of a merchant But he's also going to refer to a farmer now obviously Solomon was acquainted with trade in commerce And he would be aware of the risks of both So he's using this knowledge and experience to illustrate for us a life of faith So when he begins in verse one by saying cast your bread upon the waters for you'll find it after many days Well, the first illustration begins with a merchant that is exporting produce and this is the heart of what he's saying He's saying faith-filled giving will produce future reward So he uses the phrase cast your bread casting bread upon the waters. It gives the impression That you're throwing it away The word bread though it is important for us to note that the word bread can be translated not simply bread But by the word seed or grain So he's saying Cast your grain or the seed. Why would he say that instead of bread? Well because It matures and when it matures it is reaped And so nobody would throw grain or bread into a river because that would be wasteful So the point he's making and it's very practical is in investing Investing requires faith and trust that the investment will reap good results And that's especially true in business where beginning a business can be a very risky thing So from a commercial perspective, it requires a kind of faith to start a business Initial investments don't always pay off and there's never really a guarantee of Success and so from that point of view his words could encourage someone to take the chance Now every business person knows that nothing ventured is nothing gained So to succeed in business taking calculated chances will be necessary for success So obviously sending your merchandise via wooden ships is going to be a risky business So disbursement of finances will always involve risk, but the profits he's saying may flow back to you, so it takes a kind of faith to invest With an with an eye if you will on possible future returns and and not everyone can do that and not Everyone will do that. Why because it's unsure Here's a little blast from the past for some of you Most of you were probably either a baby or not even born at this time in 1973 My mom I had gotten out of the military. I had a little money put away My mom wanted me to invest in a triplex in Anaheim a triplex three little buildings little houses in Anaheim when you think about it Not today, but I I said no, it's too expensive. I don't want to buy three houses three houses For $30,000 All right Thank you so much for making me feel as bad as I do I Wasn't willing. I was not willing to take the chance. I Thought I was throwing my I was casting my bread upon the waters. I thought I was throwing my money away Where am I gonna get 30 grand? I didn't have 30,000. Well, son, you can get a loan. I Don't want to take out a loan, but son. I'm telling you Anaheim is a place you ought to invest and I said no Second thing might as well dig a deeper hole Second thing I was in San Luis Obispo just outside of it by Lopez Lake and There's a side road that can take you into the town take you up north And so I was going up this side road a friend of mine and I a couple friends I used to have a motorcycle and we had taken a ride up to slow And so we're going up this side road and off to the side of the road out there close to some of you Maybe familiar with the area Lopez Lake There was a there were ten acres of land Ten acres for $10,000. Oh Stop it sometimes financial gain Will be the fruit of financial risk Solomon is simply speaking from that perspective That it takes something to make something in the business world It takes money this the phrase is it takes money to make money every business person knows that you Invest in order to get but if you hold on and don't And you reap nothing and so it takes a step of faith for you to reach out and do something with the hope to gain Some kind of gain from it. It's a merchandising thing Now obviously I have to hasten to say this. There's a difference between presuming or presumption and genuine faith You see when you presume you just kind of taken the chance or a risk and Think oh, I'll be okay. I'm gonna jump off the pinnacle of the temple and angels will hold me up That's the kind of thing. So I'll take my money and I'll throw it I just I just met with some people who are discussing with me some a plan that they have They were wanting me to be part of that on a personal level just myself with With some funds that I might might be able to invest in and just just did this and I said, I'm not the guy who throws money away I Don't take that. I don't do that. It takes money to make money. They say But there has to be a wisdom you don't presume just because you invest it doesn't mean you're gonna get something So I'm not saying and Solomon is certainly not saying that you should just do it and see what happens now You have to have faith-filled planning prayerful planning So what we do before you move out is you rely on the Lord and you pray and when God gives you the sense And he will that you should take that step you will Proverbs 16 verse 9 says a man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps So spiritually this would be an encouragement to trust the Lord to supply you need now When you give your gift to the Lord What could we used to do now? They're just pushing buttons and all of that, you know just sending it But there was a time when you would actually and some still do Take something out of their wallet or writes right out of check And you drop it will say into the the bucket that passes before you It feels like you're throwing it away Like here here goes, you know, it goes my burrito, you know, I'm giving it away Well, that's like throwing your grain That's like throwing your bread on a river or an ocean and losing it So giving is an act of faith Trusting in the Lord's promises that he'll take care of you is an act of faith And by the way in that giving it is one of the most tangible demonstrations of faith that you have because Because you're trusting the Lord for your daily bread That's why the widows might is such a powerful story Because she gave all that she had to live on Jesus said He was not impressed with the ones who had substance that they could throw away losing it doesn't matter He said this is somebody who gave away everything that she had to live on. That's why that's such a powerful Demonstration of faith. She trusted the Lord to take care of us So some people think well giving to the Lord. Well, that's wasting money, but giving reveals trust that God provides Giving reveals a belief in his word because he's promised to do so in the book of Proverbs chapter 3 verses 9 and 10 The word says honor the Lord with your possessions with the first fruits of all your increase So your barns will be filled with plenty your vats will overflow with new wine 2nd Corinthians 9 6 through 8 This I say he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully So let each one give as he purposes in his heart not grudgingly or of necessity God loves a cheerful giver The word cheerful by the way is a Greek word that you get the word hilarious from Somebody who really enjoys giving to God with joy and God is able to make all grace a bound toward you That you always having all sufficiency and all things may have an abundance for every good work In in our church when we began to receive offerings. I was sharing with someone recently some people recently We didn't receive offerings for the first 11 years of our church We didn't receive offerings We had an agape box and if people were led of the spirit to give they did if they they didn't want to give they didn't We didn't pass a bucket or anything like that and and God provided for every single thing that we had We we were not receiving offerings when we bought the property here And so we qualified to be able to make payments on property when we first bought it back in 92 I think it was We We qualified to buy this it was a little over three million dollars, and we were not receiving offerings We have always trusted the Lord to provide always The reason we began to receive offerings because all of you have probably been almost all of you have been here And have seen that we've see about friends. It was a very simple story. I'll say it quickly It's that I had gotten proud of the fact that we didn't receive offerings And I had been at a meeting with several pastors in the area and they wanted Me they told me would you please receive the offering because they wanted us to combine with them to be in a an outreach and They said David could you go up and receive the offering? I said no I can't Why not I said I never have I Said I don't we don't receive offerings in our church and This pastor said you what I said we don't receive offerings So he said how how do you pay your bills? I? Said we don't know I he said how do you? You just say God will pay it and we send him a check no he said how do you pay your bills, and I said The people the people give we have a copy of buckets And not even buckets a copy of boxes. He says You don't receive an offering. How do you how do you receive? How do you? Have any money coming in and I said and I'll never forget I said to him we teach them We teach the Bible and the Bible teaches us to give generously So I don't have to pressure them well. I didn't realize it, but I was proud. I didn't realize it and So the Holy Spirit Convicted me and started saying it's time to receive offerings Why Lord? because You're not teaching the people that I bless them You're not teaching them the word you in this is an actual kind of conversation. You're not teaching them that I bless them when they give and You are stealing blessings from the people That you should be teaching that they might be blessed. I said oh well, that's just me So one of my board members calls me up out of the blue and he says to me in a day of the The Holy Spirit has put it on my heart to tell you we need to start receiving offerings and I said no We're not going to do that Raul and I Raul Reese and I Took a trip to India and We traveled together went to India. I'll never forget it. We're in southern India It was a very there were no lights in the room that we're in It was so hot. He was laying on the concrete floor. I still remember in the dark How he said how what was that because something had bitten him? Out of nowhere in the darkness I hear his voice He doesn't call me David to this day. He doesn't he calls me David David I said what? God is saying to me to tell you I'll never forget it. It's time to receive offerings Out of the blue Raul is not on my board. He knows nothing about so I took that as confirmation because My board member said it Raul said it the witness of two. I said God. You're telling me something That's how we began receiving offerings Not because we needed it. God has always provided It's because I was in teaching the church the whole council of God And so when we look at this, this is not a come-on to receive an offering guys got the buckets ready. No It's just a truth God is able to make all grace abound to you now moving on verse 2 says Give us serving to seven and also to eight for you do not know what evil will be on the earth and So this is an encouragement to generosity notice give us serving to seven and also to eight So he's saying make your finances make use of your finances in a charitable way and be aware of those who are in need if God Is blessed you financially he's saying be generous and care about other people in Verse 2 he says you do not know what evil will be on the earth. You never know when bad times will come So one day you yourself may need help and those you have helped may be there to be of help to you in Verse 3 if the clouds are full of rain they emptied themselves upon the earth if a tree falls To the south or the north in the place where the tree falls there it shall lie He who observes the wind will not so and he who regards the clouds will not reap what mysterious things he's saying here So this brings us to the farmer So nobody can perfectly predict or control weather So that leaves the farmer at the mercy of nature. How is he going to deal with this? Well, he draws a contrast notice this with he does a draws a contrast between clouds and trees now clouds Obviously are always passing through they're constantly changing you look up to the sky five minutes later It looks different Sometimes the wind blows them over the land and it rains Sometimes they hold no rain and even if they did you can't control the wind that is driving the clouds That's the point. So these are always moving. They're not really stable But in contrast you have a tree and the tree is rooted to the ground So under normal circumstances when a tree will fall it remains where it fell So it's a contrast between that which changes and that which does not change And so the past which would be a tree Cannot be changed the present which is a cloud is available to us So what is he saying? I don't know no. He's saying Do not sit around waiting for ideal circumstances to present themselves First four he who observes the wind will not so he who regards the clouds will not reap Sitting around trying to predict perfect conditions will paralyze you So sometimes we need to launch out in faith And trust the lord I've known many a minister who reminds me of somebody who's in the center of the road and a car is going towards them And they don't know whether to move to the right or the left so they stand still and they get run over by the car You can't be indecisive There needs to be a time if you're waiting on the lord for him to lead you obviously that's good But if you just don't make decisions because you don't know what to do That's not good Going on verse five As you do not know what is the way of the wind or How the bones grow in the womb of her who's with child So you do not know the works of god Who makes everything? Well, obviously nobody understands completely the way of the wind But this is where it's kind of interesting what he's saying because When you see notice verse five the way of the wind when you look at the word wind The word wind in the hebrew and this was written the old testament written in in hebrew is a word ruach Ruach can speak of breath, but it also speaks of the natural wind It can be speaking of the spirit of a living person And so ruach would be speaking in this context of a person's spirit. And so he's saying No one knows how the human spirit is is part of a of a person How does the spirit Enter in To an embryo Making it a living being how does that happen? And so that can remind us of something that took place in the ministry of christ when he was speaking to a man Who came to him by night nick of demas remember the scripture says and nick of demas came to him by night There used to be a show nick at night and it was about him. No, it wasn't him. I'm sorry. Anyway, nick of demas Master we know that you are a teacher come from god for no man can do the works that thou do us unless god is with him nick of demas says to him nobody knows why he came by night There's so many different ideas as to why he would do so. Maybe he was busy Maybe he didn't want to be seen but the fact is he came to him by night And he speaks to him. He's a master a teacher. Jesus actually refers to nick of demas as the teacher of israel He speaks of him as having a high esteem in the nation. He wasn't just some guy talking This was a man who was a scholar intellectual. He was somebody who was on the sanhedrin. He was a very high priority man How is it that thou being a teacher of israel don't understand the things that i'm saying because jesus said the wind blows where it desires And you don't know where it originates. You don't know where it's going. So jesus spoke to him a natural thing What was he speaking of he was speaking of wind But he was using it in a particular way that was spiritual because he says the one who is born of the spirit Because that's when jesus said a man must be born again To enter in or to see the kingdom of god the one who is born of the spirit Is one who is moved by god himself Because the spirit dwells within us and you're no longer what would be called a natural man and so Prior the holy spirit giving us life the bible teaches us that we're dead in our trespasses and sins We can be very religious We can dress up the outside very well with very religious You know clothing, but i've said this before you you can put a tuxedo on a chimpanzee too But it's still a chimpanzee Because it doesn't deal with your nature. It just makes the outside look okay And there are a lot of people who look really good I remember one sunday morning coming to church and saying to the church, you know I was wearing t-shirt and sweater and all of that and i said, you know I said, uh, looks it looks okay today, huh? My sweater looks nice and people you know, they're so sweet. They lied and said, yeah looks nice And I said, but you know what I didn't iron my my my t-shirt I just have the color I ironed just around the collar Everything I said if I took this off, it's all wrinkled like that, you know Because you're looking at the outside And so you can look at people on the outside and they look good, but they're wrinkled t-shirts Underneath it It's messed up And so you know in order for us to be okay It's not the outer appearance at all It requires the spirit of god to transform us from the inside So that the outside now begins to conform in the way that we live To jesus christ see that's how that works And so prior to the spirit giving us life We have none we are dead in trespasses and sin and therefore we need the spirit to give us life So you don't know how a spirit a child you don't know how that child has the spirit and all within him or the soul within him and But the person who's not born again that person Is dead because you need life and that's what the spirit is representing here So nobody completely understands how complex a human truly is In psalm 139 verses 14 through 16 I praise you because I'm fearfully and wonderfully made Your works are wonderful. I know that full well My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place When I was woven together in the depths of the earth your eyes saw my unformed body All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be So only god knows the truth about how that actually takes place You see we can monitor the growth of a baby But we don't understand how that's Really working itself out and because that's true We trust that he has all things under control The things that I can't understand it's always wise just to leave them in his hands in verse 6 In the morning so your seed in the evening do not withhold your hand For you do not know which will prosper either this or that or Whether both alike will be good So work faithfully don't become lazy. Don't become neglectful at what you're doing Sometimes you're going to start out in the morning. You're going to work until the evening And so diligence at what you're doing will be necessary for your success And just because you don't know the final results Will not excuse you For not working so His counsel regard life as a faith-filled adventure invest in today And you'll reap benefits tomorrow Like a farmer sow your seed and trust in god to bring the harvest In verse 7 truly the light is sweet. It's pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun But if a man lives many years and rejoices in them all Let him remember the days of darkness for there'll be many All that is coming Is vanity Thank you for that upbeat closing Solomon life as a gift Learn to enjoy it It's a joy to wake up to bright sunshine And to simply be happy My wife and I Often will go get a cup of coffee. It'll be early not real early But early in the morning And we we we say this quite often she and I she'll look around and she see the bright sunshine and She say it's such a beautiful. It's a beautiful morning I said, yeah, it should be a song It's a beautiful morning And it is And I love that about my wife and I'll say it very briefly, but I do I love that she she takes join the simple things And she helps me to do that too And that's true That's the little things That matter at the end of the day And it's the little things that make up the better part of the fabric of our lives And these are the things that so often we take for granted. I'm telling you I have been young and now I'm old and I can tell you That your children if your parent your children though you're saying, when are you going to grow up? Because sometimes you do you think oh It'll be nice to have the house back Then one day when they're gone You wish they were back home Because somebody's got to clean that house and you don't want to do it Who's going to take out the trash? But it's true. Some of you know this some of you have been there. Some of you understand this Enjoy life or you have it tomorrow is promised to no one And as you grow older, it's true your life If god gives you years Sometimes and we'll see this in chapter 12. Sometimes we don't realize that with many years comes many griefs Because not only do you have pleasant mornings Not only do you have opportunities to sit in your backyard with a cup of coffee and just enjoy the flowers But you also bury friends You bury parents You lose things that mattered There hurts that come Sorrows that come That's just part of life And learning how to enjoy your life is very important You never want to take for granted your blessings Because there's no guarantee they'll continue In ecclesiasties earlier in chapter 2 verse 24 He said there's nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink That his soul should enjoy The good in his labor I saw this as from the hand of god So enjoy your life. So enjoy the start of a new day But enjoying the start of a new day begins with enjoying god and having peace with him Psalm 4 says to us in verses 7 and 8 You filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound I will lie down and sleep in peace for you alone. Oh lord, make me dwell in safety They may have all these things that I wish I had and sometimes you may feel that way too You know that they got a new home or they got a new car or they have a better job Or they're making more money. They got a promotion And it's tough sometimes it's tough to to to get two nickels to rub together Sometimes you wish you could do things When when we were young and we didn't have much at all and and my kids still remember this You know, we would leave to go for an overnight But to give them a longer day and make it a longer period of time or feel that way Marie and I we would get them at three or four in the morning We'd get them up We put them in the car And we drive all night to wherever it was we're going often. It was slow. I went to slow I liked San Luis Obispo a lot. We would go there But that way we did not have to pay for a room because I could only afford one night And and I still remember getting rooms and then putting the kids in the bed and my infant Anna for You know for several months of her life into her First year if we went somewhere we would get you know in the room They'd have the drawers and sometimes they'd have a chest of drawers and when she was an infant We pulled the drawer open. We got a blanket. We put it in and made it into a crib See so those are good days Marie will tell me this to this day. She'll say those are good days I can still remember we didn't have money to buy hamburgers, right? I mean McDonald's was gourmet for us And so we Marie one time this is true story Marie one time was watching our kids We had I think two of our kids are maybe three at that time and then a friend of ours left there too So Marie's walking with five kids through this we lived on Princeton in Ontario and she was she walked them to the McDonald's there's a McDonald's over there going towards grove Anyways, she walks the kids and it's hot and she doesn't realize how hot it is So she goes into the McDonald's and when she gets in she didn't have money to buy anything So she asked for like a coke or two So the kids could share it and the little girl behind the counter pitted this woman and gave her a bag of Food hamburgers and she said here, baby, you just take it And I came home and I said, where'd you get all this food? She said they gave it to me. I said and we went and paid for it. I said, I don't receive things like that We're not gonna do that. I'll pay for it. I'll pay for this stuff. That's how we were I didn't know how to rejoice over the simple blessings and so I was still I'd say I'm gonna earn these things and you say no Enjoy the simple blessings in life. They come sometimes infrequently Sometimes there's more pain than joy So enjoy the times That you have these blessings, right? We lived in a neighborhood we thought was very friendly Why because one day we were driving and neighbors were waving at us and she goes Marie says aren't they nice? Well, we had left our sack lunches on top of the car And they were trying to tell us to pull over I think sometimes we can have a sense of entitlement That the world owes me something and it doesn't And my god owes me only judgment, but he's given me grace And so the goodness of the lord Should be enjoyed in the small blessings too because they come from his hand And friend for the one who has made peace with god the light is sweet and it's pleasant Waking up and hearing those birds singing And stepping out and feeling the warmth of the sun Is beautiful and the beauty of creation reminds us of the creator Revelation 4 verse 11 you are worthy, oh lord to receive glory honor and power For you created all things and by your will they exist and were created He says in verse 8 if a man lives many years and rejoices in them all Yet he goes on to say let him remember the days of darkness why He's saying because there are going to be many and all that is coming is vanity So Solomon is given here a sober reminder life is not Filled with continual sunshine Over the course of a life sunny days are interrupted by the storms and the darkness He says verse 8 notice the days of darkness will be many The longer you live the more stormy days you endure What do I do when I encounter these stormy days? Days of sorrow and pain Well, sometimes the only thing we want to do is forget the days of darkness They become the times that you don't want to remember You just want to leave it behind and move on But we need to remember that long lives are filled with many days of sorrow You have your trials your disappointments your hurt your afflictions And they strike us over a long lifetime I enjoy the beauty of God's creation But I still endure heartache And heartache often provides a foundation for appreciation of his blessing So the times of sorrow and affliction are not to be forgotten. They they should be remembered Why they refine our character and our faith? And they give us a deeper appreciation of the blessings that God brings That's why the psalmist in Psalm 90 verse 12 said teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom So the more trials you endure will give you an eternal framework Psalm 103 15 and 16 asked for man his days are like grass as a flower of the field He flourishes the wind passes over it and it's gone And in and its place remembers it No more So fearing the Lord doesn't produce painless living. Don't we know it? We all know that sometimes we encounter incredible pain And sometimes we have affliction But his promise is when we go through adversity The light still shines on us And we may go through hard times But God is with us through every one of them And when we encounter sorrow and loss it actually strengthens us It's like what Job said in chapter 23 verse 10 He knows the way that I take and when he has tested me I shall come forth his gold So our days of darkness are not to be forgotten. They're to be remembered because they provide deep life lessons Psalm 1971 it is good for me that I've been afflicted That I may learn your statutes So I can understand them not just intellectually, but I can know them deeply The things you go through when you're going through them remember you're going through them. You don't stay there When you're going through those things remember that they are the things God uses to deepen Your trust in him one of my college professors in bible college said If you want to have deep faith you will go through deep things I've never forgotten that At that time we used to say I want to be on fire for the lord That was a common saying that we had in the jesus movement And he said one time in class he said If you you some of you have said you want to be on fire for the lord, I'll never forget this Always remember this fire burns and fire consumes I didn't understand it when I was 23 I do now Days of sorrow will be many But God is greater than your sorrow He gives you hope beyond the sorrow And so you need to remember that so Continuing and moving to conclusion first time rejoice Oh young man in your youth and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth Walk in the ways of your heart in the side of your eyes But know that for all these god will bring you into judgment therefore Remove sorrow from your heart and put away evil from your flesh For childhood and youth Our vanity That's interesting he's saying First he says young people enjoy your days of youth In other words when you're young your days of youth should be carefree days I remember when I was in high school coming to conclusion coming to graduation And it hit me You know after the summer vacation there all those years that they were really summer vacation was really for for us kids Our parents were still working Not us sleeping in late Going to the beach as you got older hanging around with your friends staying up late at night And then it hit me I'm not in school anymore. I'm gonna have to get a job And I didn't want a job Why because it's going to interrupt my days of youth and so Enjoy your carefree days because they don't last because The older you get the more the problems Now he's not saying live without purpose and don't live. He's not saying don't live without moral direction He's saying walk in the ways of your heart in the side of your eyes He's saying walk in the right way may your heart and eyes the desires of your heart be proper He's not saying live in sin. He's saying as long as your desires are proper enjoy your life Now one thing that helps us keep our desires in check and he makes it very clear is that god is going to bring you into judgment We'll see this in chapter 12 in verse 14 god will bring every work into judgment including every secret thing whether good or evil And so he's saying just remember to walk in the fear of the lord for there is a final judge you're going to see So don't do improper things Then he says and finally finally in verse 10 remove sorrow from your heart put away evil from your flesh When when he speaks of removing sorrow from your heart, it's speaking of a disorderly way of life It speaks of sensuality He's saying these are things that can produce terrible grief and sorrow Sensual and disorderly living living so pursue the lord Don't allow yourself to become overcome with concern and worry. Why because it leads you into hopelessness Resist pursuing things that stumble you remove sin from your life. Have a sober understanding of the future pursue the lord Put away evil. He says from your flesh for childhood and youth Our vanity vanity You're not young forever Time passes by age arrives quickly and it doesn't matter How many times you get your face lifted and all those injections of Botox So that you have to learn how to express things without moving your eyebrows Sometimes marie and I get fascinated when we see people we know are older looking so young on tv This is one lady. I'll leave her un Unnamed but I am fascinated When I see her because her face is so smooth and her nose has changed and And she can't smile very well You can look as beautiful as you want on the outside, but guess what on the inside you're old Yeah, yeah, you're still old Yeah, you stand you can try to stand up, but when you stand up You're still old And so when you're in that in that that coffin, they'll say look how good that corpse looks You can hardly tell how old that one was So that's the whole point He's saying put these things away. Why because youth, you know, thank god for every day that you live But every day you're living you're getting older. So be aware of that. You're not you're not young forever Age arrives So a wise person prepares in advance. They use their proper time wisely They pursue those things that make for a better person and they resist those things that would make you less again Use your time wisely One day And we'll see it next week one day Every young person in this room should the lord tarry Right now you don't get it And that's okay Yeah, there's an old cat Steven song. It says you're young. That's not your that you're young. That's your fault Well, you just you just not aware of it. I was young I was you know, I don't Why are you complaining? Why do you make noise when you walk? Now I know why So learn Well prepare for the future Prepare for the future because it's not it's not that far away It's not that far away. I was uh, and I'll close with this. I Was talking to my daughter Anna On uh, my wife's birthday And I said not everybody knows where they were on february 9th in 1975 5 I said I do I know where I was She goes, where were you daddy? I said I was at a mexican restaurant I was sitting across from your mama And your mama ordered menudo And I looked at her and I said You eat that And she says well, of course you don't And I said I haven't eaten that since I was five My dad took me to To the store and I saw What is made out of I ain't gonna eat that I wouldn't feed it to my cat and I said You eat that She goes, yeah, I do it's delicious And she puts a spoonful She says eat it And like a little baby she feeds me And I said are you clapping my hands? You know I was I said I said All these years I've missed this I love menudo. I love it You know so But that seems like yesterday To me and I was just telling her that That was 49 years ago But it feels like yesterday And I'm telling you You don't know it now, but you will You will You'll remember things How I remember I I was just talking to someone I I remember when they used to Advertise in motels color tv And boy, we better go there We had a huge tv when we got married. We had a 12 inch tv And weighed 400 pounds and so You see what I'm saying Count your days They go faster than you think I was talking and I'll close with this. I was talking about Dedicating my daughter Corinne with Jeff When Jeff Johnson was just A young man He had black black hair and a black beard And now we'll be bearing him next week Count your days They're guaranteed to know one And enjoy each one that God gives to you But don't forget Who gave them to you