THIS is it

I've had a lot of "life verses" over the years -- ones that especially stood out to me and spoke to me where I was at in life -- but when it comes right down to it; if you want to know what life is all about, here it is:

1 Peter 2:17 (NIV)
"Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king."

We don't have a king here in America, but by making a slight adjustment in the verse, "honor the authority God put before you," we would be directly in line with Romans 13:1.

It's amazing that I knew this verse for years and years. In fact, I'm pretty positive I discovered it during my high school years over a decade ago (wow, I'm that old?!?). I was looking through my old bible -- the one that's literally in pieces because I've worn it out so much -- and in the front cover I wrote 1 Peter 2:17. I'm not one to write in the cover of my bible, so it must have impacted me at the time (which I do not remember at all), and flipping to the verse I discovered the simplicity of what God calls us to do.

This is it, plain and simple.