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My Dear Friends,
 I have read Billy Graham’s latest book called Nearing Home, a book that speaks honestly about the realities of old age and death that “comes once to every person.” Graham writes in the beginning, “This book isn’t written just for old people. It is written for people at every stage of life — even those who never have thought much about growing older. The reason is simple: the best way to meet the challenges of old age is to prepare for them now, before they arrive.” The Psalmist, of course, tells us, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Graham is candid in saying that much about growing old has been difficult and painful: “I can not truthfully say that I have liked growing older.” He goes on to say, “Growing old has been the great surprise of my life…I would never have guessed what lay in store.” Included in the things that have made old age difficult for Graham is the death of his wife, Ruth, and illnesses that have threatened his life and severely diminished his strength. In 2005 he made the decision to retire from preaching, holding his last Crusade in New York City in that year. This was not an easy decision for Graham to make, but one that he came to after consulting with people whose wisdom he trusted.
Graham points out that the Bible makes reference to death and dying nearly one thousand times. Then he adds, “Yet the Bible remains a book of great hope.” “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15). Nothing about Christian faith denies the reality of death, and yet the Bible continually offers to us hope in the face of it. “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for from their labors they do rest, and their works they do follow them” (Revelation 14:13). We live in the faith that “nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This is the hope of Christian faith, and it can turn not just old age, but every age we find ourselves, into a gift and a blessing.
Whatever your faith in God is, it must be large enough and strong enough to stand up to the towering, unavoidable reality of death. I was moved by words that Walter Isaacson includes in his recent biography of Steve Jobs. The founder of Apple was asked to give the commencement address at Stanford University in 2005, after he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. On that summer day, Jobs offered these moving words: “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me to make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”
Billy Graham knows that he is now nearing home. He writes of how glad he always was to be returning to his home in Black Mountain after spending far too much of his life on the road. “Home was a place of rest and peace; it also was a place of love and joy and security. In a far greater way, heaven is our home — our final home — our ultimate place of complete peace and security and joy forever. Here our homes are imperfect, even at best; sadly, for many, home may actually be a place of conflict and unhappiness. But this isn’t true of heaven…Heaven is our hope, heaven is our future, heaven is our home! I look forward to being home at last, and I pray you do also.”
With Love and Prayers,
Todd Jones
Pastor |
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