Renew Your Membership afresh this New Year 2022.

Membership has its privileges.

I do not like to pay for extra luggage on the airplanes. During my last trip to Peru I took six suitcases full of new shoes for the children of the poorest of the poor of the Andes Mountains of Peru.

Shortly after midnight everything was packed and I was ready to go as early as possible in the hope to find grace in the red-coated ticket counter lady of Delta in Chattanooga.

When the lady saw my mountain of luggage and my miserable looking face, she asked me if I was moving back to Peru. Taking advantage of the question I told her my side of the story of the children. Somehow, I found grace in her eyes and she believed my story and she said to me, “next time don’t take too much luggage Gerry,” and she passed the whole mountain of luggage free of charge.

What happened is that I also had the American Express Delta frequent flier Skymiles membership card. As American Express used to say, membership has its privileges. For fifty years I have traveled the world with Delta Airlines scratching their backs, giving them my business so that now it was their turn to scratch my back with this act of kindness and Generosity.

In the same way Enoch was a man of God who walked with God. We don’t know much about Enoch but we can safely assume that if you walk with God you must have been in fellowship with God. Therefore, in friendship for all practical purposes Enoch must have been God’s blue eye boy. God took Enoch to heaven without him going through the customs inspection of the Angel with a flaming sword at the pearly Gates.

The point I’m trying to make is that if you walk with God, you might never know death and God may surprise your faithfulness and friendship in his wonderful name by taking you also to heaven as he did to others.

That was the case of Enoch as well as of Elijah the prophet. Walking in the intimacy of God has indeed its privileges. Elijah was a soldier of the highest God but Enoch was just a civilian. The one thing they both had in common was that they were men of faith.

Anybody can walk with God. Whether a little boy of 12 like Jesus or a young man like David or an old man like Abraham because once you become a friend of God by walking with him in intimacy then His favor rests on you. God might pay you great dividends if you have given of yourself to Him.

Membership in the exclusive name of Jesus indeed has its privileges.

The beauty of the whole thing is that anybody can be a member of this Heavenly SkyMiles membership club.

All you need is childlike faith because faith is the victory that overcomes the world.

The fact that your name has not made it to the canon of God does not mean that you will not make it to the book of God as one of those who never knew death. Like in the case of Enoch, Elijah, for that matter Moses who were alive and well on the mountain of transfiguration along with Jesus and the father.

Take courage my friend, the books in heaven are still being written.

You could be also the one about whom Jesus would say: “What about if I want him to be alive until I return?”

Regardless of your manner of arrival to heaven it should be comforting to know that you will be there even if heaven and Earth will pass away but the one who gave you his word to save you will keep it because his words don’t pass away.

It’s a new year and it’s a good time to check your membership and exclusive club in the spaceship pilot by Jesus.

Gerry Gutierrez

PS. Aaliyah, my last granddaughter from Caleb and Kelly was born the day of Keila's funeral.