The Best Is Yet to Come

Faith for Today, Hope for the Future

Look Forward to Looking Forward!

Do you dread the days ahead? Then it’s time for a perspective check! It’s not that footloose and fancy-free days await you, because the reality of life is that you will indeed face trials, sorrow, and grief. But you can boldly move forward to embrace this future—because the best is yet to come! Greg Laurie observes Jesus’ first two miracles to reveal how and why you can approach the future with confidence, no matter what your present circumstance. Life will never stop throwing challenges your way, but God will never stop escalating your faith. That’s guaranteed. And with this increased faith, you can more fully embrace Him and the beauty of life as He intends it for you!

Is Your Life Dread-Locked?

If you feel stuck, hard-pressed on every side by bleak circumstances and an ominous future looming ahead, you know there’s got to be a better way to live. But worry and anxiety have become familiar companions. And you need out.

Thank God, because He’s saving the best for last.

Join Greg Laurie in this insightful study of the first two miracles Jesus ever performed. Here you’ll discover the secret to thriving in any situation. Your circumstances could miraculously change, but more likely, you will change. Your faith will escalate, and anxieties will melt away. Embrace now the truth that the best is indeed yet to come!

“I know of no greater preacher in America today than Greg Laurie.”

Reverend Billy Graham

Story Behind the Book

“The Best Is Yet to Come is a message that came out of a time of personal reflection on the rapid passing of time in my life. It is a look at the importance of focusing on what really matters in life and holding the course of following Jesus Christ in the confidence that the best really is yet to come!”

—Greg Laurie
The Best Is Yet to Come

It's funny how our views of aging change as we grow older.

Take, for instance, this illustration I heard recently:

When you were a kid and someone asked, “So how old are you?” you would say, “I’m five and a half.” And you’d try to hold up five and a half fingers. You’ll probably never hear an adult say, “I’m forty-six and a half.” For some reason, grown-ups just don’t get as excited as kids about those half- or three-quarter-year milestones.

Then when you got a little bit older and started moving into those teen years, you would say, “I’m going to be sixteen.” (You might only be twelve at the time.) Then adulthood finally arrives, and you “become twenty-one.” Very official sounding. You become twenty-one, but then you blink your eyes and you find that you’re turning thirty. What’s happened here? You become twenty-one, you turn thirty, and then you’re pushing forty! You become twenty-one, turn thirty, are pushing forty, and—before you know it—you reach fifty. Then you make it to sixty. Then you build up so much speed that you hit seventy.

After that, it’s a day-to-day thing. You go from your seventies to your eighties, and then it’s, “I hit Wednesday.” Then as you get even older, “I hit lunch today.” Then you hit the century mark and you clear it. Someone says, “How old are you?” And you say, “I’m 101 and a half!"

There’s no question that we live in a youth-obsessed culture. Everything seems to center around young people and what they have to say and what they think about this or that. And sometimes those of us who are getting a bit on in years feel as though we’re not as relevant as we could be.

It had to happen.

We baby boomers are finally coming of age. The generation that said, “Don’t trust anyone over thirty,” is now stepping, incredulous and amazed, into its golden years. How could it be? Where in the world did the years go?

We try to relive our youth.

We keep telling ourselves we’re still young (at heart).

We turn on the radio, maybe to our favorite oldies station, and we hear the old Leo Sayer number “You Make Me Feel like Dancing.” Only we feel like it should be updated to “You Make Me Feel like Napping.”

When you think about it, there are a number of those old sixties and seventies hits that could be revised a little for the benefit of aging baby boomers. For instance, Abba’s “Dancing Queen” from my generation could become “Denture Queen.”

Remember Herman’s Hermits from the British Invasion of the sixties? Their classic “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” could now be “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Walker.”

The Bee Gees’s “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?” could morph into “How Can You Mend a Broken Hip?”

Remember Crystal Gayle’s song “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue”? Maybe we could retitle it “Don’t It Make My Brown Hair Blue.”

The old Jerry Lee Lewis classic “A Whole Lot of Shakin’ Goin’ On” could become “A Whole Lot of Achin’ Goin’ On.”

And we can’t forget the Beatles. Their famous cut from the once counterculture Sgt. Pepper album “I Get By with a Little Help from My Friends” could be “I Get By with a Little Help from Depends.”

The Who’s great anthem about youth, “[Talkin’ ’bout] My Generation,” could now be “[Talkin’ ’bout] My Medication.” You get the idea.

Believe it or not, there are distinct advantages to being older. Have you ever met anyone over one hundred? I’ve had the chance to sit down with a number of these centenarians, and I appreciate their perspective. One reporter asked a 104-year-old woman, “What’s the best thing about being 104?” The old lady thought about it for a moment and said, “There’s no peer pressure."
Greg Laurie is senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, one of the eight largest churches in America. Laurie also leads the Harvest Crusades, which 3 million people have attended in the last twelve years. Laurie and his wife Cathe have two children and live in southern California. View titles by Greg Laurie

About

Look Forward to Looking Forward!

Do you dread the days ahead? Then it’s time for a perspective check! It’s not that footloose and fancy-free days await you, because the reality of life is that you will indeed face trials, sorrow, and grief. But you can boldly move forward to embrace this future—because the best is yet to come! Greg Laurie observes Jesus’ first two miracles to reveal how and why you can approach the future with confidence, no matter what your present circumstance. Life will never stop throwing challenges your way, but God will never stop escalating your faith. That’s guaranteed. And with this increased faith, you can more fully embrace Him and the beauty of life as He intends it for you!

Is Your Life Dread-Locked?

If you feel stuck, hard-pressed on every side by bleak circumstances and an ominous future looming ahead, you know there’s got to be a better way to live. But worry and anxiety have become familiar companions. And you need out.

Thank God, because He’s saving the best for last.

Join Greg Laurie in this insightful study of the first two miracles Jesus ever performed. Here you’ll discover the secret to thriving in any situation. Your circumstances could miraculously change, but more likely, you will change. Your faith will escalate, and anxieties will melt away. Embrace now the truth that the best is indeed yet to come!

“I know of no greater preacher in America today than Greg Laurie.”

Reverend Billy Graham

Story Behind the Book

“The Best Is Yet to Come is a message that came out of a time of personal reflection on the rapid passing of time in my life. It is a look at the importance of focusing on what really matters in life and holding the course of following Jesus Christ in the confidence that the best really is yet to come!”

—Greg Laurie

Excerpt

The Best Is Yet to Come

It's funny how our views of aging change as we grow older.

Take, for instance, this illustration I heard recently:

When you were a kid and someone asked, “So how old are you?” you would say, “I’m five and a half.” And you’d try to hold up five and a half fingers. You’ll probably never hear an adult say, “I’m forty-six and a half.” For some reason, grown-ups just don’t get as excited as kids about those half- or three-quarter-year milestones.

Then when you got a little bit older and started moving into those teen years, you would say, “I’m going to be sixteen.” (You might only be twelve at the time.) Then adulthood finally arrives, and you “become twenty-one.” Very official sounding. You become twenty-one, but then you blink your eyes and you find that you’re turning thirty. What’s happened here? You become twenty-one, you turn thirty, and then you’re pushing forty! You become twenty-one, turn thirty, are pushing forty, and—before you know it—you reach fifty. Then you make it to sixty. Then you build up so much speed that you hit seventy.

After that, it’s a day-to-day thing. You go from your seventies to your eighties, and then it’s, “I hit Wednesday.” Then as you get even older, “I hit lunch today.” Then you hit the century mark and you clear it. Someone says, “How old are you?” And you say, “I’m 101 and a half!"

There’s no question that we live in a youth-obsessed culture. Everything seems to center around young people and what they have to say and what they think about this or that. And sometimes those of us who are getting a bit on in years feel as though we’re not as relevant as we could be.

It had to happen.

We baby boomers are finally coming of age. The generation that said, “Don’t trust anyone over thirty,” is now stepping, incredulous and amazed, into its golden years. How could it be? Where in the world did the years go?

We try to relive our youth.

We keep telling ourselves we’re still young (at heart).

We turn on the radio, maybe to our favorite oldies station, and we hear the old Leo Sayer number “You Make Me Feel like Dancing.” Only we feel like it should be updated to “You Make Me Feel like Napping.”

When you think about it, there are a number of those old sixties and seventies hits that could be revised a little for the benefit of aging baby boomers. For instance, Abba’s “Dancing Queen” from my generation could become “Denture Queen.”

Remember Herman’s Hermits from the British Invasion of the sixties? Their classic “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” could now be “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Walker.”

The Bee Gees’s “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?” could morph into “How Can You Mend a Broken Hip?”

Remember Crystal Gayle’s song “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue”? Maybe we could retitle it “Don’t It Make My Brown Hair Blue.”

The old Jerry Lee Lewis classic “A Whole Lot of Shakin’ Goin’ On” could become “A Whole Lot of Achin’ Goin’ On.”

And we can’t forget the Beatles. Their famous cut from the once counterculture Sgt. Pepper album “I Get By with a Little Help from My Friends” could be “I Get By with a Little Help from Depends.”

The Who’s great anthem about youth, “[Talkin’ ’bout] My Generation,” could now be “[Talkin’ ’bout] My Medication.” You get the idea.

Believe it or not, there are distinct advantages to being older. Have you ever met anyone over one hundred? I’ve had the chance to sit down with a number of these centenarians, and I appreciate their perspective. One reporter asked a 104-year-old woman, “What’s the best thing about being 104?” The old lady thought about it for a moment and said, “There’s no peer pressure."

Author

Greg Laurie is senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, one of the eight largest churches in America. Laurie also leads the Harvest Crusades, which 3 million people have attended in the last twelve years. Laurie and his wife Cathe have two children and live in southern California. View titles by Greg Laurie