Passing through a small town in Georgia one sunny day last summer, I noticed this weathered wall. What is the significance of this old building? Why is it still standing? Couldn’t the space be put to better use by tearing it down and making way for something new? Someday I’ll pass that way again. And when I do, I’ll stop and find out why that weathered wall is important to the folks in that town.

On another road trip, this time in Mississippi, I happened upon this old structure that was leaning so badly it compelled me to stop and take a picture. It’s a wonder that it is still standing, to be honest.

A third road trip last year took us to this cemetery in Alabama. I love to visit cemeteries and read the markings on the tombstones, the names and dates, and the occasional epitaph. Visiting the cemetery reminds me that my time on earth is short, and I should make the most of the moments that have been given to me. The cemetery also teaches me to appreciate my family and friends, for a growing number of them now rest in those quiet gardens.

What struck me about this particular weathered headstone was the fact that he was a U.S. Marine, and that he died at the age of 20. My oldest son is 20 and a U.S. Marine. I tried to imagine what it would be like to have to bury him, what this PFC’s parents must have felt as they said goodbye to their young son. Before moving on, I thanked God for my son, for his service to our country, for his profession of faith in Christ, and for his life.

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Do you long for something that will not decay, never weather, never grow old? Such things can only be found in God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. The Lord’s mercies and compassions are new every morning.
   Lamentations 3:22-23 It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.
2. God gives us a new heart when we trust in Him.
   Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
3. One day there will be a new heaven and a new earth.
   Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
4. The things we do for God will never decay.
   Matthew 6:19-21 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust do corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes,” so Benjamin Franklin said. Death and decay will always be here. Everything on earth will weather sooner or later, but we have the confidence of knowing that in eternity all will be new and fresh always. In heaven we will never grow old, for there will be no more sin. What a wonderful expectation! Are you heaven-bound?