BDCMINISTRIES

BDCMinistries--The Website of Bruce and Geneva Collins

Greetings dear friends,

I’m Bruce Collins. I am an evangelist and teacher of the Bible. I became a child of God by faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ on November 24, 1963 and have tried to serve the Lord in various capacities since then. I am presently a self-employed minister of the Gospel. I do not work for an organization but I try to serve the Lord in the best way that I can wherever He leads. That means that my wife and I have our financial needs met by the Lord as we do not have a salary from any church or organization.  We believe that the Gospel is free so we have never made a charge for our services.

I am available for Bible studies, conferences, Gospel meetings, children’s meetings and camp work. I have traveled throughout much of the United States and Canada in my service for the Lord. My wife helps me, and we attend the Bethany Bible Chapel in Cedar Falls, Iowa. They have encouraged us by commending us for this work.

My wife, Geneva and I live in Waterloo, Iowa. We have four children. One of them is married and has provided us with two grandchildren.

This web site has a weekly meditation that I hope will encourage you. It has links to literature and organizations that I think are helpful. You can also listen to my weekly radio program here.

Yours because of Calvary,

Bruce Collins 

4008 University Ave., Ste 1 

Waterloo, IA 50701-5651


319.230.9140

collinsbd@hotmail.com

My Two Cents Worth

 

 

INDEX:

If you would like to read a classic Gospel Tract called GOD’S WAY OF SALVATION go here

For another classic Gospel Tract called God is Satisfied! Are You go here

For Important Personal Scriptures go here

For an open letter to my friends and neighbors go here

For the story of how I was saved go here

For the story of how my wife was saved go here

For the story of Merlyn VandeKrol–You Have About a Year to live! (a friend who died from cancer) go here

For the Rest of the Story–Merlyn’s Wife Karen go here

For answers to questions that I have been asked go here

For a women’s perspective on head coverings go here

For a manual on how to preach the Gospel that has been used with camp counselors go here

For an OVERVIEW OF THE BIBLE AND SOME PRINCIPLES OF BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION go here

For a PROPHETIC CHART go here

For a published article on FAITh, What is it? go here

For the story of the George Street Evangelist go to George Street

For links to other helpful websites go here

For the On-Line Blue Letter Bible go here

For the On-Line Bible Studies Tool go here

Bruce and Geneva

How Fleeting is Life!

 

LORD, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah (Psalm 39:4-5 NKJV)

 

Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. (James 4:14 NKJV)

 

Taking Inventory

KIng David in Psalm 39 seems to be suffering a sickness (plague in some versions) that he considers to be discipline or chastisement from God.  Apparently, he, like all of us, was taking inventory of his life during this "stroke" from God.  He came to the conclusion that life was fleeting, temporary, and like a vapor.  It didn't amount to much.  This may have been written late in life, as he asked for the Lord to give Him a little time to once again enjoy life before he would depart and be no more.

 

The Preciousness of Life

LIfe is precious.  That is why blood, the source and emblem of life, is not eaten in the Old Testament.  The blood represents the life of the person and the life of any animal that was slain.  We are reminded that the blood of Christ was precious, "Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Peter 1:18-19 NKJV)."

 

Why?

So if life is fleeting and yet the blood that represents life is precious, why is it so easy for people to take the life of others?  This is an act that cannot be undone.  We have people doing research into cures for diseases so that they can save life while at the same time we have people indiscriminately taking life in unnecessary wars and in unnecessary violence in our streets.  Just now we are hearing of a great earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand.  Our hearts grieve.  But we are also hearing of the great loss of life in Ukraine, in Palestine, in the Sudan.  Do we understand the precious nature of each life that is lost either through accident or war or through neighborhood brawls?

 

How quickly a life can be exterminated.  It is almost as simple for some people as blowing out the flame of a candle.  But God considers every person born into this world to be precious and he has said that shedding another's blood in anger is the crime of an unbeliever.  The Apostle John tells us, "Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him (1 John 3:15 NKJV)."  

 

Blood Shed in War

Now I know that shedding blood in war is another thing and I frankly do not understand some of the wars of the Old Testament.  I know they occurred because God wanted His people to be preserved from the idolatry of the world.  So Joshua (with the Lord as the Captain of the Host) fought wars that totally annihilated people groups in the land Israel was given as a possession. 

 

I also know that He said foreign powers would be used to judge His own people who had turned away from Him.  Likely, the children that died in these wars went to heaven directly, where if they had been raised in idolatry they might have died as unbelievers.  That is just my reasoning.  I do believe that every person who dies in wars, just or unjust, is loved by God.  But I have to leave it there as there are some things God has done that I wouldn't have done if I were God.  I do know that since God judges the sin of unbelief so harshly, I would not want to get on God's bad side.  

 

Loss Because of the Loss of Life

LIfe is precious but it can be snuffed out in an instant.  Lives lost might be the lives that could have found the cure for cancer or that could have found a way for cars to run on fuel other than gasoline.  Perhaps they could have found a way to feed all the hungry in the world.  Every life brought into this world is brought into it for a reason.  Every life lost is the loss of potential blessing.  

 

Even if we live a long and happy life, it is going to come to an end.  Let's not waste our own lives and certainly we don't want to waste the lives of others.  At the very least everyone born into this world should be given the opportunity to prepare for the day when they will meet God.  They may not get to read and study the whole of God's word as I have, but at the very least, they should be exposed to the truth of John 3:16.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16 NKJV)."

 

Conclusion

God loves the whole world.  Do we? LIfe is fleeting but life is precious.

 

Bruce Collins

 

Meditation for the week of March 30, 2025

 

If you would like further conversation about the issues in these meditations, contact me at collinsbd@yahoo.com and I will try to accommodate you with a virtual Bible Study.

 

My Two Cents Worth Videos, you can subscribe to this channel.

 

PROGRAMS

For Archived Radio Programs go here

For Archived Meditations go here

 

THREE MUSTS:

Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' (John 3:7 NKJV)

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:14-15 NKJV)

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." 
(Acts 4:12 NKJV)