Two or three years ago I came across the word “FUTURE” quite a bit in my reading.

These days I find that I am reading quite a bit about “ESCAPE” and “PARADISE”.

In a paper for tourists I am reading about “GREAT WINTER ESCAPES”. A cruise to Waiheke is advertised and a cruise to Great Barrier Island is also advertised.

In the same paper it says:

“KAWAU ISLAND

ESCAPE TO PARADISE.”

Kawau Island is only 45 minutes north of Auckland.

In another paper for travellers I am even reading about “The gateway to paradise”. In the paper it says also,  “Yes it is a gateway to Paradise , but Motueka is also part of that Paradise.”

Why do we like to talk and hear about “ESCAPE” and “PARADISE”?

Why do we like to escape to Paradise? Why do we like to talk and hear about the gateway to Paradise?

BECAUSE THERE IS A GATEWAY TO PARADISE! BECAUSE THERE IS A GATEWAY TO HEAVEN! BECAUSE THERE IS AN ESCAPE TO PARADISE!

GOD IS THE GATEWAY TO HEAVEN. FROM GOD COMES ESCAPE FROM DEATH.

What do we read in Psalm 68:20?

“Our God is a God who saves;

from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death.”

FISHERS OF MEN ( Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17)

“DEAR FISHERS OF MEN…….”

That’s how a letter in the “Braker Ehemaligen Forum” begins.

The “Braker Ehemaligen Forum” is the newspaper of the graduates of the BIBLE COLLEGE  BRAKE in Germany.

Other letters start with “My dear,….” and “My dear sisters and brothers,…”

The letter which begins with “Dear fishers of men,…”  is written by Ernie Klassen (Uncle Ernie), who was a teacher at the Braker Bible College when I attended.

In his letter uncle Ernie, who is 92 years old, is writing:

“I am almost every day on the street telling people about the Lord. In the year 2010 I distributed more than 2,500 tracts and gave away about 1,200 CDs.”

I think only people who are on the street almost every day telling people about the Lord find it easy to start a letter with “Dear fishers of men,…”