by Pastor Mark Downey

Scripture Reading:  Malachi 4:5-6

I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you actually leave them.  I hate to think that these trying times (some say trials and tribulations) will someday be the good old days.  I guess the good old days were when we thought it couldn't get worse.  A good barometer would be leadership.  There was a day when all it took to impeach a president was illegal wiretapping or having sex with a White House intern in the broom closet.  About 200 years ago the French historian Alexis de Tocqueville observed that, “America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”  Today's sermon really is not about nostalgia, but we do have a memory system that recalls times of happiness.  But, how far back in time do we go to determine that happiness.