He lived in a shack on the edge of town. He wore overalls to church before casual dress was cool. He didn't own a car; he didn't have job. As a sixteen-year-old kid, fresh from the courthouse with my driver's license, it became my privilege to drive Porter home from church on Sunday. I would pull into Porter's driveway. He would get out of the car and then as if it were an afterthought, although he never failed to do it, Porter would peek back into the car and say, “Keep looking up, Bubby, keep looking up." Now you know my childhood nickname. However, it's the message that I want you to claim. “Keep looking up. Keep looking up."

I. KEEP LOOKING UP TO JESUS

The name of the game in ancient Greece was marathon races. They invented the Music City Marathon in which twenty thousand people in o…