What Would You Say In Your Final Letter?

What Would You Say In Your Final Letter?

What Would You Say In Your Final Letter?

In a letter by Major Sullivan Ballou of the Union Army's Second Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteers, he writes to his wife Sarah of his love for her and his country.  He volunteered for service and his ultimate sacrifice on July 28, 1861 cost Major Ballou, 32, a lawyer and father of two small boys, Edgar and Willie, what President Lincoln declared "the last full measure".  If we had a few hours notice by God of our demise and the chance to write a letter, would it include such profound thoughts as:

Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so long.

Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have oftentimes been! 

and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/07/28/major-sullivan-ballous-letter-to-wife-sarah/#ixzz1TQl3x73H

Would we retell of our love for a spouse or child?  The closeness of death might render an opportunity to say the words and declare the feelings long held in by fear, shame or regret.  Would we ask for forgiveness for past wrongs and misdeeds?  Would we release others by offering our own forgiveness instead of leaving them still chained and bound?  Why is death the motivation which causes us to finally act?  We can see the words from his heart and the anticipation of the next few hours and days might bring to him and the two-thousand men with him.

It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart. Ecclesiates 7:2 (NIV)

We need to be reminded of the closeness of death and the fact we do not have an idea of its approach.  The approach of death should not cause the movement toward forgiveness and reconciliation.  It is the duty of all believers to live as if death is near.  Jesus told us to take up our crosses and only the condemned like Jesus carried a cross.  Death is the destiny of everyone and we should take this to heart to determine our course in all relationships. 

The Bee in the Spider's Web

I was talking with a hospice team member about something he saw in his garden one evening as a bee got entangled in a spider’s web.  The spider was much smaller and yet he was undaunted in his attempt to subdue the eventual dinner.  The spider began encapsulating the bee with the silken protein strands which have a tensile strength of high grade steel and yet a strand long enough to circle the earth would weigh about eighteen ounces. (Wikipedia--Spider's Silk)  The bee was desperately fluttering its wings but the crafty spider began to cover the wings and the helpless bee was history.  Spiders cover the prey with a digestive juice which liquefies and consumes the insect from the inside out.

But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:14-15 (NIV)

While the example may seem harsh, it is a good example of the helpless condition of man with sin.  If we tried to face down the Enemy by ourselves, we would be like the helpless insect.  Growing up without a Savior I found my life darting like the errant flight plan of the bee.  The bee may know the directions he is to take but a gust of wind can impede his progress in the plan.  I knew right from wrong but was powerless to resist the wrong or do the right.  Anger, hatred, and malice where just some of the webs that found me and no matter how hard I tried, I became enticed by evil desire flourishing into full-blown sin.  As I struggled I became more and more entangled by the very sin I hated.  The Enemy slowly wrapped me up in his web because like Paul said in Romans 7:15-17 (NIV), it was the sin which lived in us. 

Paul calls us more than conquerors through him who loved us.  We are not merely a strong army, but an empowered force by him who loved so we can resist the Enemy to an overwhelmingly powerful victory.  Jesus said the “gates of hell” will not be able to resist.  Gates are for defense and not for offense because they cannot move from their foundations.  We are the super-conquerors and we need to take it to the Enemy.  We are no longer in the trap—he is the trapped foe of Jesus, struggling now in the last gasping hours before his eventual defeat.   

Running the Race

As I drive to work, I am often met with heavy tractor-trailers with a "wide load" sign across the end of the rig, moving slowly up and down the West Virginia hills.  Often these mammoth trucks have escort cars leading the way with yellow warning lights to alert others of the slow moving convoy.  These cars have poles raised to the height of the truck and its load so they will know if approaching overpasses will prove to be a problem and force the convoy off its planned path.  As the truck lumbers along the highway, other trucks and cars are forced to move farther away to avoid being clipped by the extra wide contents.  Many Christians try to run the race of the Christian life like these trucks--over burdened by sin and things of life which keep them from running as swiftly as they could.   

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,   (Hebrews 12:1 NIV)

A few years ago I led a youth weekend retreat called "Running the Race" with Hebrews 12:1-2 as the theme verse.  We went to a ten-thousand acre Christian retreat center called Faith Ranch in Scio, Ohio.  As we arrived, we gave each teen a painter's bucket and told them the rules of the event.  Each time they grumbled, complained, or showed disrespect to each other or an adult leader,they would get a load of lava rocks for their buckets.  They were required to carry these buckets 24 hours a day and if they tried to abandon the bucket, more rocks.  If they went to the bathroom--the bucket was with them.  If they went to bed--the bucket was with them.  The only place it did not go was on the horseback rides, but, they were placed at the entrance to the corral waiting for them when they finished.  As they left they had to pick up the ever increasing volume of rocks in their buckets--they were of course--teenagers. On Saturday night at the foot of a cross erected at the retreat center, we showed them it was not just sin which could come between them and the Lord.  These things, such as friends, family, technology, and even church activities, could hinder or slow ithem down in the Christian's race as a teenager. We had a prayer for these things and they laid the rocks at the foot of the cross and the word, FORGIVEN, was written on the bottom of the bucket and given to each student. The burdens of sin or the things of this world weigh us down and prevent us from running as we should.     

In the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Tanzanian runner John Stephen Ahkwari was the last runner in the marathon.  He came in about an hour and a half after the winner, practically carrying his leg, as it was so bloodied and bandaged. He was asked,  “Why did you keep going?” He said, “You don’t understand. My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start a race, they sent me to finish it.”(SpeedEndurance.com)  God did not save us to start the Christian race but to finish it and we need to make sure we run the race well and not lumber along. 

Does God Laugh?

A recent controversy has occurred over Pastor Joe Nelms prayer at a NASCAR race when he thanked God for his wife.  In his prayer, “Lord, I want to thank you for my smokin’ hot wife tonight, Lisa" followed the example given by Will Ferrell in the racing movie, Talladega Nights.  “I want to get somebody’s attention, so that’s been our desire every time we’ve been up there, to try to make an impact on the fans and give them something they’ll remember, and maybe they’ll go home on a Friday night or a Saturday night and say, 'Maybe I ought to get up and go to church in the morning,'" Nelms said.  (Fox News.com)  Of course there are those who may grumble under their breath at what this pastor has done.  We never see the image of a laughing God.  He is seen as stern, expressionless, and void of any emotion.  Did  Jesus, who is God in the flesh, ever crack a joke with his disciples; did he laughed or smiled in his lifetime here?  In Psalm 2, God is said to laugh at the thoughts and plans of sinful man. I was told by a seminary professor when Jesus told his disciples to give the hungry something to eat, it was stated in a joking manner since he knew they could nothing about the need.

In the world today someone is going to be offended by a believer's prayer.  A veteren's cemetary in Houston, Texas has a director named Arleen Ocasio who has banned the name Jesus or God in any service conducted at the cemetary. 

“Local veterans say the Department of Veterans Affairs is consistently censoring their prayers, banning them from saying the words “God,” and “Jesus” during funeral services at Houston National Cemetery.  Three separate organizations have come forward complaining the cemetery’s director and other government officials are violating the First Amendment. Members from the Veterans of Foreign Wars, The American Legion and the National Memorial Ladies all complain of “religious hostility” at the cemetery.” (Kaffir Kanuck)

God is definitely laughing if man thinks they can stop anyone from saying his name or the name of Jesus.  When the Berlin Wall fell, Western Christians presumed they would have a bountiful harvest of converts from seventy years of communism.  Suprisingly they found an underground church movement alive and well, and all the while God laughed at the communist government's futile attempts to stop him.  I may not have thanked God for my "smoking hot wife" on national television but I am thankful for Vicki.  God knew the pastor would say what he did, and I wonder if God is more like the Morgan Freeman's character of God in Bruce Almighty, with humor and a smile, and less like the picture of God as a heavenly cop with a baton waiting for us to mess up. You decide.

Circumstances Change in A Blink of An Eye

Yesterday I received an email during church and since I was on call, I had it on vibrate if I had to leave for a patient or family with hospice.  When opened, it was from a nurse now in labor having her first child.  We had joked about setting a date and I choose August 1, which is my birthday.  Her text made me smile because she apologized because it was happening one week earlier.  At lunch with my wife, I sent someone a message I would be visiting her father in a facility and she replied she was in the middle of a crisis and call her friend, a team member for more information.  The lady's boyfriend had a swimming pool injury and had been sent by helicopter to a Pittsburgh hospital.  Vicki and I considered driving the seventy miles to be with her but God sent a cousin of the injured man, a pastor, to be with them and have prayer. 

Sometimes the events of life fall on us like rain and we cannot escape them but continue to walk eventually being soaked to the skin.  We wonder where God is and why he does this to his children.  The Bible says "all" things work for the good, but in the turbulent times of life we may wonder why.  No one is exempt from the troubles of life. 

The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;  Psalm 34:19

Troubles happen no matter who we are--believer or non-believer.  Some of the troubles are self-created from wrong behavior, attitudes or ethical choices.  Others may be sent from the enemy but used by God to refine and perfect us.  Then again, some may just happen because of the fallen condition of this world and everyone in it.  In the Psalm 34, the very word, deliver, refers to being snatched or drawn  out, such as a shepherd would do with a sheep which had become entangled in briers or a pit.  While Psalm 50 tells us those who have forgotten God do not have someone to "deliver" them, we can be assured God will deliver us. 

Lastly, we know the God who delivers is also the God who plans.  In those plans he has the best for us--prosper and not harm and for hope and a future.  Prosperity does not mean wealth as today but the Hebrew speaks of understanding and insight.  What a great gift God gives to those who love him--insight and understanding of his acts and actions.  Just as Joseph understood the dreams God had given him which led to his position as second to Pharaoh, those who have been given understanding then can see God's actions clearly.  He also gives to those a second promise--no harm.  If deliverance speaks of salvation, then harm would be destruction and God gives us a future. 

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Jeremiah 29:11

The circumstances of our life may be like the ups and downs of the ocean, but don't worry, for Jesus calmed the storm, both the winds and the waves, and his disciples wondered what sort of man this Jesus was.  You know!  The tomb is empty and you have a future because the tomb IS empty.