The contrast was stark.  Like night and day.  It happened some time ago, but it came to mind this week and blessed me as I remembered the lesson I learned.  Some time back, I was with my wife at the Medical Center (I’m still not used to the new “Navicent Health” name) to see a member of our church family who had gone through surgery.  As we stepped toward the elevator on the fourth floor, I heard sobs coming from just down the hall.  I looked and saw a dear family huddled together in grief over a loved one who had just passed away.  There were somber faces, flowing tears, consoling hugs, and hushed voices on cell phones.  The elevator doors closed as I said a brief prayer for that group.  A few moments later the doors opened on the third floor, and we stepped out of the elevator into a completely different atmosphere.  As we turned to go down the hall, it was blocked by another family.  But what a contrast!  About a dozen people were crowding around the little hospital crib of a newborn celebrity.  They happily jostled each other to glimpse the baby, forming a cell phone cloud over the child as they all tried to get a picture or video.  Here, I saw broad smiles, laughter, excited congratulations, and the joy of life.  And I was impacted by the contrast.  “A time to be born, and a time to die,” I thought.  As the doors of life’s elevator open each day, we never really know what we will find when we walk through them.  But we can know that God is already there. He’s a God who can say, “Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest” (Genesis 28:15).  In all the ups and downs, in all the joys and sorrows, in all the changes we go through, in all the contrasts of life, it’s assuring to know that our unchanging, loving Lord is there and still in control.  Keep your eyes on Him today!