There are times when life is filled with pleasant experiences. One good event follows another. You find the love of your life. You get the dream job. You land the big client. You finish the major project. Your child is born healthy. Your child makes the honor roll. The results from your annual physical come back with great news. Every time you assemble with your Christian brothers and sisters is a mountaintop experience.

There are times when life is filled with not so pleasant experiences. One disappointment piles upon another. The love of your life finds another love. The dream job turns into a nightmare. The big client is a jerk. The completion of the major project means you have worked yourself out of a job. Your child is having difficulty in every subject. You have a miscarriage. The results of your annual physical come back with terrible news. Every time you assemble with your brothers and sisters you go home wondering why things can’t be like they used to be.

There are times when life is filled with a mixed bag of experiences. You have a wonderful visit with one of your grandchildren one week, and then the next week you learn that one of your other grandchildren has been in a terrible accident. One day you are playing golf with your best friends, the next day one of them is having heart surgery. One night you and your husband have a wonderful dinner in your favorite quiet restaurant, the next day you are ready to tear each other’s heads off over some petty issue. One day your boss is praising you, the next she is telling you that you better get with it. One night your team wins big, the next night they get beat by a weaker team. One month it seems that the church you attend is really on the move in the right direction, the next month it seems that your church is moving backwards.

Life is a combination of ups and downs. Being followers of Jesus does not make us immune to the pressures, does it? Pain and problems come to all people, don't they? At times, it even appears that the burdens we bear are even greater than those of other folks. Sometimes the difficult days seem to outnumber the easy days. Then, we will go months and months when life is so easy we cannot remember what a problem is.

Confusing, isn't it?

Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so they can have life. I want them to have it in the fullest possible way" (John 10:10 NIRV).

Maybe that’s what He meant.