MONOPOLY: Growing up, I periodically played a game that I never really enjoyed, probably because it took too long. The game? Monopoly. The goal was to buy-up all the rental properties, hotels, railroad crossings, etc. so that you could monopolize and control all the other players. Our Father, from above, delights in monopolizing every need that we have. I recently reminded about fifty people at my brother-in-laws funeral that God has a monopoly on a couple of things that we all need: mercy and comfort. Paul wrote (I Corinthians 1:3) that God is "the source of EVERY mercy and the God of ALL comfort". However the mercy or comfort appears in our lives, its true source is God. Family, finances, freedom, faith, and every other mercy, no matter how they appear to have been given to us, actually have their roots in heaven. The New Testament author expressed it this way, "Every good and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights." I usually quit the monopoly game before the game actually ended, however, God never wearies at being the monopolizer of what we need. He certainly gave us mercy and comfort as we walked through the pain of the death of one we loved so much. He'll never grow weary using His limitless resources to extend "every mercy and all comfort" that we will need tomorrow and tomorrow and all the tomorrows until the ultimate mercy and comfort (Heaven) becomes a reality.