There Is An Arizona!

I am a sucker for a good country song. My son Tyler and I were eating in a restaurant while a country hit from a few years ago played above us. When we got home that evening, I downloaded the song onto my ipod.  The artist's name is Jamie O'Neal, and her song is called "There Is No Arizona". It is a woeful melody of a young woman left in the big city by a guy who made a lot of promises about a new life with him in Arizona. In fact, as the song warbles, she fears everything is a lie. She receives postcards, but the promises never become reality. There are so many lies that she could fill the Grand Canyon with them. As you can tell,the only thing setting this country hit apart from the standard format is the absence of a brief time of incarceration. Nevertheless, I have had a hard time getting that song out of my head. One reason is that I have spent a lot of time in the places mentioned in the song; places like Tombstone, the Painted Desert, and Sadona. I found myself talking back to the broken-hearted girl singing the song and saying  "Yes, there is an Arizona.  I have been to all of those places. They are usually hot, but they are real and they are beautiful. 
 
The reality is that we live and work with people who are broken hearted. Sometimes they cover it well, and sometimes they wear it like a country song. We all know people who say they don't believe there is a place called heaven or that there is a God who truly loves. Their fear is that they could fill the Grand Canyon with perceived lies and broken promises. Sometimes they tear up the postcards of the gospel sent to them, but in truth, they really want to believe, but they are afraid. They are afraid that God might not love them because He knows what they've done.  

Pray for them and keep sending the postcards of the gospel. Keep telling them about a God who keeps His promises and who, as Paul the Apostle said, cannot lie. When Paul wrote a postcard to a man named Titus he said that his faith was based upon a knowledge and hope of eternal life... "...which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time." (Titus 1:2) 
 
Yes, Jamie there is an Arizona with a painted desert, Grand Canyon and Sadona, but greater still, there is a Heaven.  Most  importantly, there is a God who cannot lie, and He has a life planned for you. If you know this reality, send someone a postcard today! 
 
Ed Litton