Now, if we're honest, reading the Bible consistently can be a challenge, but know that it's never

too late to start and we're in this together. Thanks for journeying with us. And here's your host, Emma,

daughter. Thanks for joining. Today, we are reading Ecclesiastes 5 through 8 with a little preview

into tomorrow's episode. We'll talk about that in a second.

But I am in the podcast studio with one of our Watermark elders, Todd Anders.

Hi, Emma. How are you doing?

Todd, very well. It's great to have you back.

It's good to be back.

I figured we've got a good question, a good prompt today. And since we're going to preview a little bit of tomorrow's reading, I thought maybe we'd just jump in, and for those who haven't heard you share your testimony,

we can link a past episode. Does that sound good?

That sounds great.

All right, so the prompt we gave you in regard to today's reading, but dipping into

chapter 9 a little bit, was, if the same event happens to all, what is the point of the Christian life?

Yeah. So, and I think, as I kind of reflected on that, I think it starts with an understanding of what do we mean when we say the same event happens to all.

You know, there are really almost two things that are talked about in the text in that regard. The one that's a

preview into nine is the fact that death comes to us all, right? We all end our existence

in this world through that common event of death. But in eight in particular, the author of Ecclesiastes really is talking about something

greater than just the event of death. He's talking about the fact that life happens, good events

happen, bad events happen, and just because you're in a relationship with Christ or just

because you're part of the tribe of Israel in the Old Testament doesn't mean you're exempt from those things that happen to us all.

You know, I think about Jesus in the New Testament in Matthew 545, where Jesus basically says,

he makes his son to rise on the evil and the good

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