One fun thing about being in Estes Park is the wildlife encounters. (Usually fun. Benji, the dog, and I were confronted by an angry deer after he barked at her fawns. No photo documentation, sadly, June was too busy watching us from our cabin’s porch scared out of her wits. Anyway, Benji and I survived unscathed.)

A few days later I went to the country store where a herd of elk made their appearance. And make no mistake, they are big…

“Guys, let’s cross the street and pose for a few pictures. The parking lot is crawling with tourists.”

[Jesus] was out among the wild animals, and angels took care of him. (Mark 1.13, NLT)

We closed yesterday’s blog, day 2 of sharing from Sahil Bloom’s essay from August 20, 2025, with

Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting… Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning… (Ecclesiastes 7.2 – 4, NKJV)

In other words, there are more lessons in a funeral than in a wedding! And Sahil speaks to that in the essay we’ve been looking at: Live Like It’s The Last Time. He writes:

Shortly after publishing my book, I was asked by a journalist why I had chosen to include such gut wrenching stories of love and loss. Of a wonderful woman named Alexis Lockhart who had lost her son Jackson just after his 20th birthday. Of a soulful man named Erik Newton who had lost his wife Aubrie when their daughter was just two.

My answer was simple:

To create ripples.

You see, through pain, tragedy, and loss, there is light. It shines through from that darkness. A blinding insight. A clarity. A flash from the other side.

These stories have the power to shine that light on your path. To show you the way. To change the way you live.

Sahil loops back to the story that inspired the essay: Wade Lytal, who lost his 8-year-old daughter in the Texas floods of July 4:

Sitting at my desk, writing this piece, I feel an immense gratitude:

That the ripples I hoped to create were real. That a young father in Texas took the stories to heart. That he loved with every ounce. That he had no regrets. That he lived like it was the last time.

And I feel an immense privilege: to be able to share this story. A story of love. Of loss. Of a family in the throes of grief who need our love right now. Of a beautiful little girl gone far too soon.

Of the ripples that her light will create in the world.

They’ve already created one in mine. Last night, my son crawled into bed with us at 1am and woke me up. I was tired and had an alarm set for my usual 4am wake up.

I wanted to tell him to go back to bed, but as he cuddled up next to me, I stopped and said these words in my head:

There will be a last time he crawls into bed next to you. Live like it’s today.

Again,

Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting… Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning… (Ecclesiastes 7.2 – 4, NKJV)

Yesterday I shared the incredible story of how Wade Lytal, the father of one of the recent Texas flood victims reached out to thank author Sahil Bloom for encouraging him to spend more time with his family. The father, a believer, was being salt and light in the world. If you missed that blog, please read it now. I’ll wait…

The message that Sahil wrote, the message that helped that father, was simple:

He didn’t know it was the last time. But he lived like it was.

Sahil continues:

Writer and philosopher Sam Harris once said, “No matter how many times you do something, there will come a day when you do it for the last time.”

There will be a last time your kids want you to read them a bedtime story. A last time you’ll go for a long walk with your sibling. A last time you’ll hug your parents. A last time your friend will call you for support.

All of the things we take for granted today are things we’ll wish we could go back and do.

There’s a last time for all of it.

You won’t know when it’s the last time. But you can live like it is.

There’s wisdom in that, echoing themes from Ecclesiastes, that Sahil also touches on in his essay. I’ll share them tomorrow.

In the meantime, you can contribute to a fund in Wade Lytal’s daughter’s memory.

Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting… Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning… (Ecclesiastes 7.2 – 4, NKJV)

Too good not to share…

Sahil Bloom started his August 20, 2025, blog with this:

There are certain moments in life that feel etched into our memory. The pivotal turning points. The experiences or events that have a distinct before and after in how we approached the world.

Cruelly, we often don’t realize we’re living one of those moments until after the fact. We look back on it and say, “ah, yes, that was important!”

Well, last week, I had one of those moments—but I knew it right away…

Sahil got a letter from a guy who had read his book The 5 Types of Wealth. (I have it, but, sadly, I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet.)

Mr. Bloom, I wanted to write you and thank you for the book you recently published. I was one of the 27 fathers that lost their daughter during the tragic flooding of Camp Mystic. I read your book a few months ago and it really gave me a clear perspective on how to be a more involved father in both of my daughter’s lives. Being a college football coach it is easy to drift away and only focus on my career but the way you explained the real amount of time we have with our kiddos really struck me. I am so thankful your book helped wake me up and cherish those last few months I had with my daughter. Again, thank you for being willing to share your story with the world and I want you to know it made a lasting impact on my life. – Wade Lytal

Sahil writes:

I read it aloud to my wife, our son nearby playing with his dinosaurs, and we both immediately began to cry.

To have suffered such an unimaginable loss—and yet, to have the grace, presence, and spirit to send a message like that—I knew this man was different. I knew I had to meet him.

Last week, I pulled up to a small lunch restaurant in San Antonio and sat in the courtyard. It was about 10:45am, but the August sun was already beating down. A young man came around the corner and entered the courtyard, a warm smile masking his tired eyes. We had never met, but it didn’t matter. The two of us hugged like old friends, a bond forged through his vulnerability.

For an hour, we sat and talked over a simple meal.

• About his daughter, Kellyanne, a beautiful 8-year-old with a heart overflowing with kindness and a bold, courageous spirit.
• About loss. The struggle. The indescribably painful waves of grief.
• About faith. The church. The community who had wrapped them in love.
• About identity. The questions about never being the same again. About accepting that the same is no longer an option.
• About fatherhood. Being a pillar of strength for his wife and second daughter. Showing up for them as his duty. His responsibility. And most of all, about time. The time he had cherished with Kellyanne. The memories he had created with her. The precious moments. The lack of regrets because he knew he had been present in those last few months. He had really been there.

Sahil shares the obvious application to this story, the point he made in his book, and I will save that for tomorrow.

I want to write about our opportunities to be salt and light. What drew Sahil to want to meet Wade Lytal? Sahil lives in the northeast, a non-trivial distance from San Antonio. But he took the time to meet Wade in person and among the things they talked about was “faith…church…[his Christian] community.” Sahil answered the question (above):

To have suffered such an unimaginable loss—and yet, to have the grace, presence, and spirit to send a message like that—I knew this man was different. I knew I had to meet him.

It was a “holy moment” for Wade to write to Sahil. And it became a chance for Wade to be salt and light to Sahil.

“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. (Matthew 5.13 – 16, MSG, emphasis mine)

Do everything readily and cheerfully…Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night. (Philippians 2.14, 15, MSG)

I’ll let the text speak for itself today…

Here’s something in Ecclesiastes 6 in NKJV I’d never seen before:

All the labor of man is for his mouth, And yet the soul is not satisfied. (Ecclesiastes 6.7, NKJV)

What will the soul be satisfied with?

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” (Matthew 4.4, NKJV)

I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food. (Job 23.12, NKJV)

Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15.16, NKJV)

Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him. (John 6.27, NKJV)

Amen.

PS This blog is in the spirit of Ecclesiastes 5.2:

God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let your words be few.

I’m sharing snippets from Ecclesiastes, words to get our attention and make us think.

Here’s chilling thought from chapter 4, right after the value of partnership that I shared yesterday:

Better a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more. (Ecclesiastes 4.13, NKJV)

NLT has it:

It is better to be a poor but wise youth than an old and foolish king who refuses all advice.

Don’t get past receiving admonishment! Don’t be the person who “refuses all advice.” Said positively:

The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise. He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, but he who heeds rebuke gets understanding. (Proverbs 15.31, 32, NKJV)

Back to Ecclesiastes:

He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 5.10, NKJV)

A good word. There’s a parallel passage in Proverbs:

Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit. (Proverbs 23.4, NLT)

The solution?

Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage. As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. (Ecclesiastes 5.18, 19, NKJV)

PS If you missed the concert, you can watch it here.

Here’s a gem from Ecclesiastes 4:

Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4.9 – 12, NKJV)

My son Matt selected this text to be read at his wedding on June 29. His wife, Amber, understands the third strand of the threefold cord to be Jesus.

I agree. Amen.

This blog will post at 5:30p, Mountain time, August 24, 2025, and at 7p June and I with our son David will do a piano concert at YMCA of the Rockies as I mentioned last Monday. One of the pieces I will play is “Theme from Exodus,” inspired by the Julliard-trained piano duo Ferrante and Teicher. They came out with it right after the movie back in 1960, and for a while it was #2 on the pop chart. I was a freshman in high school when I worked out my facsimile arrangement. You can hear the real one by clicking the photo:

I got to hear them live when they did a concert at Clemson University a few years later while I was a student. I’ll never forget their introduction. They said something like, “We know that you all want to know, you know, who’s who.” Then they paused, and one of them said:

We are Ferrante and Teicher.

Think about it. At our concert tonight, everyone will know who is Bob, June and David. They can have their favorite pianist. Not at that Ferrante and Teicher concert. Neither could try to upstage the other for his own glory since we didn’t know which was Ferrante and which was Teicher. It was the epitome of Paul’s instruction to the Philippians:

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2.1 – 4, NKJV)

PS Here we are in the Estes Park News, August 22 edition, page 34:

PPS The event was livestreamed via FaceBook, and you can see the saved video here: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1C2yNS23cE/

The music starts about 2:20 in. You can only see the piano. You can hear our introductions but not see us since we’re across the stage from the piano.

Dayenu means “it would have been enough,” and it’s a new word for me. It comes from a Jewish Passover hymn written in the 9th Century. The Wikipedia entry starts:

Dayenu (Hebrew: דַּיֵּנוּ‎, Dayyēnū) is a song that is part of the Jewish holiday of Passover. The word “dayenu” means approximately “it would have been enough”…This traditional upbeat Passover song is over one thousand years old.

It’s part of The Chosen, Season 5, episode 4. Click the picture to see the scene in its entirety.

The article goes on to summarize the words – the things God did for Israel:

Dayenu has 15 stanzas representing the 15 gifts God bestowed. The first five involve freeing the Jews from slavery, the next describe the miracles He did for them, and the last five for the closeness to God He gave them. Each stanza is followed by dayenu “it would have been enough”, sung repeatedly. The 15 stanzas are as follows:

Five stanzas of leaving slavery

1. If He had brought us out of Egypt
2. If He had executed justice upon the Egyptians
3. If He had executed justice upon their gods
4. If He had slain their first-born
5. If He had given to us their wealth

Five stanzas of miracles

6. If He had split the sea for us
7. If He had led us through on dry land
8. If He had drowned our oppressors
9. If He had provided for our needs in the wilderness for 40 years
10. If He had fed us manna

Five stanzas of being with God

11. If He had given us Shabbat
12. If He had led us to Mount Sinai
13. If He had given us the Torah
14. If He had brought us into the Land of Israel
15. If He built the Temple for us

The Presbyterian Church (USA) wrote a lovely adaptation, which I present without further comment:

Most Holy God, maker of heaven and earth, so bountiful is your steadfast love, that just a little of your glory is more than enough.

• If you had just poured out your love in creation, It would have been enough.
• If you had revealed yourself through creation, but not made covenant with us, It would have been enough.
• If you had made covenant with us and not entered into relationship with us, It would have been enough.
• If you had just been in relationship with us and not fussed over us when we strayed, It would have been enough.
• If you had called us to accountability when we strayed and not delivered us from bondage, Dayenu.
• If you had delivered us from slavery and not led us into a land of freedom, Dayenu.
• If you had led us into a land of freedom and not sent holy men and women to teach us your Way, Dayenu.
• If you had sent us prophets to speak of your love and not sent us a Savior, Dayenu.
• If you had sent us a Savior and not taken humanity unto yourself, It would have been enough.
• If you had taken humanity unto yourself but not given us resurrection victory, It would have been enough.
• If you had conquered the power of sin but not given us the gift of Holy Spirit, It would have been enough.
• If you had conferred Holy Spirit but not called us to participate in your work of redeeming and blessing the world. It would have been enough.

But as it is, most gracious God, you have more than abundantly lavished your goodness upon us. In Christ Jesus you revealed the fullness of your love. His whole life, death, and resurrection testify to the depth of your compassion.

Therefore, we bless you, we thank you, we praise you, for you alone are worthy of our worship. To you and to the Christ and to the Holy Spirit be all glory, honor, and dominion, now and forevermore. Amen.

The Apostle Paul expressed it succinctly:

Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift! (2 Corinthians 9.15, ESV)

PS There’s another scene in The Chosen where the female disciples of Jesus do their own Dayenu.

In 1984, when we left Montgomery, Alabama, the first time (we also lived there from 2001 – 2006), our adult Sunday School class gave us a clock, which still hangs in a prominent place in our home.

If you look very carefully behind the pendulum, you’ll see a small plaque. It’s inscribed

Ecclesiastes 3.1 – 8

To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:

• A time to be born, and a time to die
• A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted
• A time to kill, and a time to heal
• A time to break down, and a time to build up
• A time to weep, and a time to laugh
• A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
• A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones
• A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing
• A time to gain, and a time to lose
• A time to keep, and a time to throw away
• A time to tear, and a time to sew
• A time to keep silence, and a time to speak
• A time to love, and a time to hate
• A time of war, and a time of peace. (Ecclesiastes 3.1 – 8, NKJV, bulleted for clarity)

“A time for every purpose under heaven.”

Those of us who are getting older realize we’re going to a lot more funerals than weddings, yes? “A time to be born, and a time to die.”

Our downsizing move has been “a time to throw away” (and give away!).

We can pray with respect to Russia and Ukraine that we’re approaching “a time of peace.”

What “time” is it in your life?

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time… (Ephesians 5.15, 16, ESV)