Well, after the first month of this New Year, after wading through acres of newsprint, and miles of prime-time documentaries, series of summaries, piles of projections, plenty of predictions, all aimed at trying to unpack an unknown future as well as make clear a bewildering present, if what we see in the headlines and the news documentaries are indicators of what's ahead, it's enough to drain all the strength out of you.

As I think about it, we need what I would call a vitamin for the journey. A vitamin not found in the advice of well-known and well-paid pundits and media prophets. It's not even found in the psychic hotline. Paradoxically, this vitamin is found in the last words of a dying man. In Deuteronomy, chapter 33 and verse 27: "The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms."

This was Moses' blessing pronounced upon Israel before his death, a blessing that carried the authority of God, thus providing a reason for courage, the secret of assurance - strength for the journey.

But why this text as the vitamin for the journey? Consider the first phrase, "The eternal God is your refuge." Now, certain words stand out immediately - "God," this name, "Elohim" - standing as it does for the immeasurable might and majesty of the most high.

However the arresting word is the word translated "eternal." Now eternal, as used here, does not quite mean the same as everlasting. The word translated eternal has another meaning or nuance. It has to do with "yesterday."

So the thought here could be translated "the God of the beginning." The God of the morning, the God of old is our dwelling place. Our refuge. In other words, the eternal God is the God who brought you through. The eternal God is no Johnny-come-lately, he has proved himself in the past, and now is your refuge.

Tightly woven in these words is Moses' experience with God. His God was big enough for his life, his problems, his needs, his heartache. There was no limit, boundary or edge to God's ability and power.

What about your life, your problems, your needs, your heartache? Let the record show God is big enough. There is no limit, boundary or edge to his ability and his power.

No question about it, a vitamin for the journey is He, the eternal God, always and under all circumstances and difficulties a refuge, whether it's the raging tempest or the daily drizzle, major griefs or minor hurts.

When you're hurt and feel a pain that is difficult to share and impossible to bear, the eternal God is your refuge.

When the rat race is frantic and I can't measure up to keeping up, the eternal God is my refuge.

When you're tired of being tired, and need rest for body and soul, the eternal God is your refuge.

When you can't continue to play macho, and no longer masquerade as if you don't care - the eternal God is your refuge.

Now for some, you may not now fully sense or feel you need a refuge, but there are others who know that every now and then life will shake your soul to its foundations.

Several years ago a submarine was being tested and had to remain submerged for many hours. When it returned to the harbor, the captain was asked, "How did the terrible storm affect you?" The officer replied in surprise, "Storm? We didn't even know there was one!"

The sub had been so far beneath the surface that it had reached the area known to sailors as the "cushion of the sea." Although the ocean may be whipped into high waves by high winds, the waters below are never stirred.

The eternal God is your refuge, "the cushion of the sea," and there, sheltered by his grace, you can find in the storm the tranquility only God can provide.

Surely this passage is a vitamin for the journey. The eternal God is your refuge - that's reason enough. But all that prepares for, and actually leads to, the second part of the declaration, "And underneath are the everlasting arms."

Everlasting arms. Arms in the Bible constitute the figure of strength, and everlasting emphasizes the power and majesty of God's arms. So, this is another way of describing help offered as well as the help needed.

Little Suzy in her prayer was right when she said, "Dear God, before I finish, remember God, I want you to take care of mommy, take care of daddy, take care of my sister and brother and please God, take care of yourself, because if you don't, we're all sunk! Amen."

Amen! Sunk unless underneath are the everlasting arms.

The Hebrew word for underneath means the "bottom." The root word is that of depressing and humbling, the very bottom. How far down has your experience taken you? How far down has the crushing weight of sorrow taken you? How far have you fallen in some hour of weakness?

This is saying, no matter how far down you have been, how deep you have sunk, whatever lowest level you've known - underneath - in other words, lower than that, are the everlasting arms.

This is a vitamin for journey. For in this vitamin is power, not only to shelter the weakest - "The eternal God is your refuge," - but also power to lift up the lowest, for underneath are the everlasting arms.

Moses had learned to trust in God and, with unquestioning faith, committed himself. He knew there would be days when your only stability is underneath of the everlasting arms, days when you would feel at bottom, and would feel you couldn't go any lower - underneath.

Even in weakness? Oh, yes! Ask an adulterous David, a profane Peter, a violent Paul, and they will testify when we can fall no farther, or sink any lower, still we are cradled in the arms of God, for "underneath are the everlasting arms."

If this is a vitamin for the journey, then every product has its testimonials.

Those who, like Moses, David, Peter, Paul, can testify, take this one-a-day mega-vitamin daily with a tall glass of faith and this vitamin will:

Heal ulcers,

Remove the wrinkles of worry,

Lower blood pressure,

Strengthen the muscles of your will,

Calm your nerves,

Enhance the quality of sleep, and

Build your endurance.

This vitamin will give you the testimony:

"I thank God for the mountains,

And I thank Him for the valleys.

I thank him for the trials he's brought me through.

Because if I never had a problem,

I wouldn't know that He could solve them.

I wouldn't know what faith in God could do.

"And so through it all, through it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus. I've learned to trust in God. Through it all, through it all, I've learned to depend upon His word."

His word. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

Eternal God, we claim the promise in Jesus' name. Amen.

Floyd Brown: It's always a pleasure to talk to you. Things are well at the college, I hope.

Benjamin Reaves: Yes, they are, and good to be back with you, Floyd.

Brown: Thank you. What an interesting sermon you had today, talking about the vitamins that will give us the faith that we need, the faith being the vitamins. How does one arrive at that, though? It's not just something you can do very easily, is it?

Reaves: That's true, and probably for both of us, out of personal experience, we can testify that it's not easy.

Brown: Absolutely.

Reaves: But it does start with a sense of reality and that is the understanding that in ourselves we can't handle it. Now that goes against the grain.

Brown:  Sure.

Reaves: Because we like to think that, yes, we are sufficient, we can handle it. But the truth is, we can't, and when we face up to that, then we are in a position to be willing to trust. But until we recognize our inadequacy, we can't even move to the trust stage. But once we are willing to trust God's word and take Him at His word, then we can begin to enjoy the benefits of that one-a-day mega-vitamin.

Brown:  You know what - this is a personal statement from me - but one of the most frightening things happened. I recently had an illness, and I found out that prayer really works. You've got to be careful what you ask for because God will give it to you! You're dealing with young people on the college campuses today. When you express to them - when you're young you have that omnipotence about you, you know, nothing can happen to me - what about it, though? Do the young people, do they want to discuss this, or are they coming to the Lord, or are they understanding better today or less today?

Reaves:  Well first of all, I am delighted to say that they are understanding, but I would also say that there are challenges that are interwoven in this society that are unique, and so for our young people it is a real difficult task to be able to balance themselves between the pressures of the society and what I call this MTV generation, but also the reality of biblical truth. But I am heartened by the fact that, as you talk with young people, many times looking at them on the surface, you think, "Oh, they're not listening." But they are.

Brown:  Sure.

Reaves:  And you'll find that again and again. They will come to you and share how they are listening and what they receive from what you had to say, because in actuality despite the brochures that we print with the glossy pictures of smiling young people - you know - they struggle. They have pains, burdens, difficulties and sorrows. And they, too, as well as the older of us, we need all the vitamins.

Brown:  You can probably fill us in with a good story here. As a parent of grown children, in some of the testimonies I've heard from them later - our son became a judge and I heard him in his testimony say things and I said, "He really was listening." It comes as a surprise after all of these years, the things that his mother and I taught, the things that he learned in church, he really was listening. How does this come back to you at the university?

Reaves:  Well, I call it - at least in a personal way - the two miracles of parenthood. One is the miracle that you said anything worth listening to, and the second thing is the miracle that they heard it and have in some ways internalized it. I get letters all of the time from students who have graduated and gone on to other responsibilities in other areas, that will recall for me words that were spoken in a chapel or in a personal conversation out on the campus, that made a difference for them, and I must say it has a powerful impact on me when I recognize that in some way I was able to touch a young life and, hopefully, benefit it.

Brown:  What a gratifying life you have when you have children all the time that you have an opportunity to reach. Tell me about some of the pressures that they have today. We've got about two minutes left here. Tell me about it. We know it's a drug society; we know it's a crime society. What's happening on the campuses today?

Reaves:  Now, for me, one of the major disturbing things is a declining morality that is more and more masqueraded as acceptability. There is a vulgarity that is showcased as a lifestyle, and the pressures and just overall impact of media as it presents this is very difficult for young people. So they are constantly bombarded. They also have the things we all had, peer pressure and the rest of it.

But this society is even more sophisticated in the kinds of things that would lead the young people astray, lead them away from the values and convictions that were once precious to them and to their families. So, it's a challenge. The young people are coming to us with some different ideas and different attitudes, but we are called to minister to them.

Brown:  And I hope that they get that faith so they'll have that vitamin pill that you talked about to carry them through these extremely difficult times. You know, it's always a privilege to talk to you. Thanks for coming back. We look forward to seeing you again soon.