Grief

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Sometimes the news comes quick. Sometimes the news comes slow. No matter how or when it comes, grief travels in the wake of the news. Grief is heavy, weighty, a burden, especially when it involves someone deeply loved. Grief is not meant to be carried alone. It’s too heavy and may last a while—and that’s ok. That’s what family and friends are for, to share the load. Jesus stood outside the tomb of his friend and wept but He did not weep alone. It was a deep, human moment. “ Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted ” (Matt 5:4). If anyone knows how we feel in grief, it’s Him. But His grief did not linger long, as at the mention of his name, Lazarus came forth. We are not meant to dwell in grief, but should leave room enough for it. Let it run its course. Like the song says, “ Every Storm Runs Out Of Rain .” Another song says, “ The storm We will dance as it breaks The storm It will give as it takes And all of our pain is washed away Don't cry or be afraid Some things...

The fools of whom Solomon speaks

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"Whoever walks with the wise will become wise; but the companion of fools shall be destroyed!" Pr. 13:20

Young men! There are evil companions to be avoided!

The workhouse, the lunatic asylum, the prison, the gallows, the bottomless pit, all, all, attest the truth of this, by the millions they have swallowed up in their jaws of destruction!

Evil companionship has ruined . . . more characters, more fortunes, more bodies, and more souls, than almost anything else that could be named.

Young men! Evil companionship is one of your first and most pressing dangers. Character assimilates to that which surrounds it. You must take your character,
to a certain extent, from your companions.

Do not have bad companions! Men . . . who scoff at Christianity, who ridicule the godly, who make light of sin and laugh at conscience, who are lewd in their actions, or obscene in their talk, who are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, who are extravagant in their habits, who are loose in their moral principles, these are the fools of whom Solomon speaks, --who will bring their own destruction upon you,
if you do not avoid them!

With much the same emphasis do I warn you against bad BOOKS. There are books that inflame the imagination and corrupt the taste--that by their excitement unfit the mind for the sober realities of life--or by continuous light entertainment, indispose the mind for what is serious and holy. These are all to be avoided.

In some respects bad books are more mischievous than bad companions, since they are more accessible, and more constantly with us. They can be more secretly consulted, and lodge their poison more abidingly in . . . the imagination, the intellect, and
the heart!

A bad book is a bad companion of the worst kind, and prepares for bad companions of all other kinds!

"Whoever walks with the wise will become wise; but the companion of fools shall be destroyed!" Pr. 13:20

J. A. James (1785—1859), "The Young Man's Friend and Guide Through Life to Immortality"

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