Eric's Beijing Diary

I'm listening now to the words of George Beverly Shea..."I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold..." It's an mp3 file I downloaded from the internet some years ago. It was a poem his mother had found, and placed on the piano where he could see it as he was playing. Young George was moved by the words and put them to music.

I'd rather have Jesus. That says it all. We all want to have the "good things in life." But if it comes to choices, I'd rather have Jesus. We all want security. Freedom from fear, and the right to do as we please. All nice things, but if it really came down to a choice, I'd rather have Jesus.

Nobody wants to go hungry. We all want, of course, to experience some measure of stability. Friends, family, and a sense that our life has meaning. But even all these things do not satisfy the deepest hunger of my heart. I'd rather have Jesus.

Wealth? What can I do with it? Use it to line my coffin? I'd rather have Jesus. Fame? Fame only brings trouble. I'd rather have Jesus. It is not for me to chart the course of another man's life. Every day I am surrounded by people who have made other choices, or no choice at all. They can have want they want, I'd rather have Jesus.

I am a Christian. From a socioligical perspective, I suppose most would say that this is because I came from a Christian background, but I have known people who came from a Christian background but chose to follow a different path. So when it comes right down to it, I am a Christian because, in spite of all the other paths a person like me could chose to walk, I chose the way of the cross, because I'd rather have Jesus.

Life is short. If this life is all there is, then we better do what we can to get the most of it, because we may die tomorrow. But this life is not all there is. And when my time on this earth is over, and I have to surrender all the things of this life, it won't be any great loss, because I'd rather have Jesus.

Absalom raised a pillar to himself. A statue to commemorate himself because he had no heirs. He had no son to carry on his name. But if your life has no meaning, what's to carry on? And if your life does have meaning, then what to you want to be remembered for? For all your many accomplishments? Not me. I'd rather just be remembered simply as the man who'd rather have Jesus.