Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God tha

I'm going to take you somewhere I can guarantee you've never been before. Ready?! All right, follow me. Climb in my ear. Don't worry, I've washed. Watch your step over that little drum-looking thing right there; I need that. Only a little further down this tunnel. Ah, here we are, the brain room , or "Tim Central" as I prefer to call it. See that big list over there tacked on the wall of my cerebral cortex? That's my "O.K. Index." Take a moment to read it over:

MARRIAGE	OK	Rough 2 years of mid-life marital adjustment, but improving
Son #1	Not OK	Very moody of late; A new girlfriend and a new attitude to match
Son #2	OK	1^st year of high school going better than last year of middle school - Hormones leveling out
JOB	Not OK	Money, personnel, managed care stresses galore
MONEY	Not OK	Lots of unforeseen expenses, less income this year than last, boys eating like horses
PARENTS	OK	Healthy for now, but well into their 70's and 80's
CHURCH	Not OK	Worship stale, various families in crisis
HEALTH	OK	Persistent inner ear problem just won't go away, but improving
CARS	OK	175,000 miles on the van, but the Nissan is only 2 years old
AND ON	AND ON	AND ON . . .

You have no idea how many times a day I come in here and check on that list. I have no idea how many times a day I come in here and check on that list! For most of my life, my sense of well being ("OK-ness") has been based on how this list totals up. If there are more O.K.'s than Not O.K.'s, life is, well, ah…O.K.! But, if I find it tallies up to a negative O.K. equation, life can feel pretty harsh. The list is continually changing. It never stays the same. Kind of like an emotional ticker-tape machine. That's why I'm constantly coming here. I never know when my emotional "investments" might plunge.

Nutty as all of this may sound, I'd wager that I'm not the only one who has a list like this. Maybe yours is prioritized differently or has different listings, but it's probably there. What you value as important in your life is carefully catalogued away somewhere deep inside of you. Because those people or things on your list are important to you in some way, their "O.K.-ness" directly affects your "O.K.-ness." The real problem in living life this way is that most of life rarely stays O.K. for very long. Be honest, it doesn't take a life threatening crisis like, say cancer, to throw us off balance. A fight with our spouse, or rumblings at the office about downsizing, or a funny knocking sound coming from under the hood of the car can send us dashing back to our lists to see how we're doing.

Fortunately, Jesus knows how we're put together (Not too surprising; after all, He's the Craftsman). "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap." [Luke 21:34] If my (or your) "O.K.-ness" rests on the things, people, and events in and around my life, then I'm bound for a great deal of stress. If, however, our "O.K.-ness" rests on Christ AND CHRIST ALONE, then we can be in the middle of a sea of "non-O.K.-ness," yet still know the peace of being more O.K. than we ever knew from our lists. It's not a sin to want to be O.K. It is a sin, however, to expect who and what surrounds us to deliver the same peace and security that only Jesus offers. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. [John 14:27]

So, am I all finished with going to my "O.K. Index"? Honestly, no. But now every time I do, I now see a very short list superimposed over my very long list. The short list simply reads: John 14:1.