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At our session this past week I opened the meeting by reading the same passage from Amos that was read for us this morning. At the conclusion of my reading, one of your elders said in humor, "I am really looking forward to when you stop reading Amos at us."

I am glad that someone was listening and understood the gravity of what Amos is saying. And I don't think it was any picnic for Amos either. He was away from home, away from his livelihood, and preaching an unpopular message to an unfriendly crowd.
But he said what he needed to say, and it has been preserved for us right down to the twenty first century, and that is an incredible fact on its own.

I don't know about you, but when I read that verse, I thought, how true and how depressing! None of us wants to think our lives are of no consequence. None of us wants to believe our lives are short. We all want to leave some kind of mark on the world and we all want to live forever. But we all know that the reality is much different from what we want.

A Hurting Word...

So what's a valley? Here's three possibilities: "Red River Valley" - "Valley of the Dolls" - "Valley of the Jolly Green Giant" (Beware! Recognition of these titles "may" reveal your age--ouch!) And a fourth possibility? It's no joke, for sure. It's a place of larger-than-life shadows, dark ravines, and a place I do not choose to go. But here I am--how do I handle it?

Have you ever had a week that was so overwhelming that it made you physically tired? You just felt so drained and out of sorts that you were unable to function. Function to me means being able to type on this keyboard lots of the time {web ministry} and I didn't even feel like sitting here and typing away at something I love - had desire, but no will power. I was constantly lying down to take a nap, getting up and not feeling the refreshing I thought I would feel when I got out of bed. Now that gets to be depressing.