Uncle Bob
My Uncle Bob and I went bowling together and we both won … we each scored more than our age! Uncle Bob is now 92 and amazingly spry without any notable aches or pains. He and his son just drove out from Chicago for a brief visit, and we treated them to our favorite thin crust pizza, juicy burgers on pretzel buns and of course my world-famous lime chicken from the grill. And as you would expect, we offered a variety of ice cream flavors each night. It was a memory maker of a visit.
Seldom have I seen someone in as good of shape at his age; however, my uncle’s age is showing. What was so sobering to me is that he just 15 years older than I am! As we all know life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer we get to the end, the faster it goes. The poet Robert Southey wrote: “Live as long as you may, the first twenty years are the longest half of your life.”
They say that age is just a number. This I know, as the number goes up at some point the counting will stop. However, whatever the final number every life counts. And considering eternity every life on earth is incredibly short.
I sometimes like to quiz my pastor friends on how long some of our favorite authors and heroes lived. Here’s a list of just ten in order of the age they died.
• Age 39 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Author of “The Cost of Discipleship” - hung by the Nazi’s.
• Age 43 - Oswald Chambers - Author “My Utmost for His Highest” and Scottish evangelist aligned with the Holiness Movement.
• Age 59 - King Solomon - Renowned for wisdom and author of Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon.
• Age 64 - C.S. Lewis - Oxford professor and reluctant convert of Christ, author of “Mere Christianity” and the “Chronicles of Narnia.”
• Age 67 - George Washington - Hero of the Revolutionary War, an American Founding Father and our first President.
• Age 70 - King David - Author of most of the Psalms and “a man after God’s own heart.”
• Age 72 - Tim Keller - esteemed New York pastor and author of many enriching books.
• Age 78 - Dallas Willard - much honored philosophy professor from UCLA, author of “Hearing God” and many other books on spiritual formation.
• Age 92 - George Mueller - an English evangelist who founded an orphanage solely on faith ultimately serving thousands of children.
• Age 99 - Billy Graham - the leading evangelist of the last century and friend of presidents and author of “Just as I Am.”
Question: why would some die so young and others die so old? No one knows, but as King David wrote in Psalm 39: “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” We don’t get to determine the number of our days, but we do get to choose how we will live them and invest them.
I just spoke with a good friend a few years younger than me who is courageously battling two types of cancer. He is soon facing major surgery but still hopes to enjoy a number of years with his wife and family. He is not naive, but he is determined to live well and to finish well.
I love how Rick Warren summarized it: “Life is test, a trust and a temporary assignment.” As we read in James 4:14, “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
I am treasuring each vanishing day more and more, as the apostle Paul said: “That I may finish my race with joy.” (Acts 20:24 NKJV).
Grace and Peace,
Alan
