Trivia:
Well I totally guessed this one wrong, but Jen was on the button without Google. The author of "Rip Van Winkle" was truly Washington Irving.
Challenge:
Ecclesiastes 12:13 "For God will bring every work into judgement, Including ever secret thing, Whether good or evil."
Well, this last verse reminds us of the importance of holding ourselves accountable to God's instructions in how we should live, as well as, the importance of our obedience to His words.
Here we learn by the inference to secret things, that to God the heart & mind of man is vitally important. He concludes by setting before us the truth that life apart from God is empty and futile. When we ignore Him and His principles for life we cheat ourselves of the best that life can offer.
However, we are not to live our lives in fear, for as John says in 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; perfect love casts our fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love." So we don't trust and obey because we fear but because we love. Just as John 5:24 states "I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life."
SO GO WITH GOD for He has made a way for our salvation, joy, and communion. Paul Gerhardt reiterated this truth in his poetic writing,
There is no condemnation,
There is no hell for me,
The torment and the fire
My eyes shall never see;
For me there is no sentence,
For me there is no sting
Because the Lord who loves me
Shall shield me with His wing.
What great comfort we enjoy as His children, my child rest in that realization.