Growing Old is Not For Sissies

 


Today I made a little trip down to Orangeburg to visit one of our Lexington Baptist Church VIPs who has been living at The Oaks Methodist Home for several years.  I went to deliver to her a poinsettia as is our practice for all our VIPs every December.  This year we have 42, and it is my joy and priviledge to go with one of our LBC Deacons and visit and pray with two VIPs every week.  So today I visited Damiana Snelgrove and she is 91 years old.  She is originally from Puerto Rico. 

Tonight I was doing some research for my Sunday School lesson on the "Oak at Shechem" where Jacob buried all the idols of the Children of Israel in Genesis 35:4.  It just so happened that my PC "accidentally" picked up on "The Oak" search and opened up a document that is stored on my PC.  It is a devotional that my dad delivered at The Oaks on January 19, 2012. My dad who was a pastor in Orangeburg (and prior to that at FBC West Columbia which is now River District Church that Lexington Baptist is helping to rebuild!) passed away at 91 years old in 2018 and is buried in Orangeburg next to my mother.

 

Devotional at The Oaks, Jan. 19, 2012 by Rev. Burt Williams

    My devotional message today is a little bit different.  I’m sure most of you are aware that just a few weeks ago Dr. Billy Graham turned 93.  In the introduction to his latest book entitled “Nearing Home: Life, Faith and Finishing Well”—his opening sentence is “I never thought I would live to be this old.”

    How many of you here today have said the same thing?  (Yes. I thought so.  So have I!)

    He writes:  “All my life I was taught how to die as a Christian, but no one ever taught me how I ought to live in the years before I die…

Whoever first said it was right: old age is not for sissies.  Get any group of older people together, and I can almost guarantee what their favorite topic of conversation will be:  their latest aches and pains.”

   He concludes the introduction like this:  “Someday our life’s journey will be over.  In a sense we all are nearing home.  As we do, I pray that you and I may not only learn what it means to grow older but, with God’s help, also learn to grow older with grace and find the guidance needed to finish well.”

As a Sr. Adult Pastor, I am so blessed to have my father's legacy to carry on in ministry to our "seasoned citizens."  And I simply add my "Amen" to my father's devotional words.  The only word I can add to this is: "Prepare for take off! Make sure you are finishing well and are prepared to step into eternity."



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Persecution of the Church Begins By Teaching That All Church-Goers Are The Church

Image
  I saw this article online and it naturally caught my attention.  It was written by Moises Mendez II who, according to his own profile is "a recent graduate from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. He is a freelance journalist based in New York City writing about everything from music to LGBTQ issues." What is your reaction to this statement? "Sunday morning after church is the worst type of customer... you won't change my mind."  My first thought was, "Well, that's one guy's opinion and he has a right to it, but he would have to already have a bias against Christians to make such a blanket conclusion about all people who go to church on Sundays."  Mr. Mendez is not the one pictured here, but he included in his article this video by a Tik-Tok-er named Saint_Hypnos as "exhibit A" for his post: If the video won't play, go to  Servers Say 'Sunday Morning After Church' Are the Worst Customers (dailydot.co
Read more

D.S. al Coda is Back!

Image
After a three-year hiatus from writing this Blog, I have picked up D.S. al Coda once again.  I left off this blog site as I wrote a weekly column for the Lexington Chronicle since January of 2019.  I felt somewhat restricted from being able to write solely about the most important things in life to me--our Heavenly Father and the salvation we can have through Jesus Christ, His Son. I enjoyed the experience of writing for the paper and felt I should do so as my father, Rev. Bert Williams wrote articles for years for the Orangeburg T & D.  And I recently compiled and published a book called, "A Year of Sr. Living--52 articles form the Lexington Chronicle 2019-2021".  I would love for you to have a copy of this book.  It is on sale for $10 at this website: www.RestoringHisTruth.com . Postage is free and I will be happy to mail you a copy or simply sell it to you at Lexington Baptist Church. I enjoy writing.  I had a professor who said 3 words that I never forgot: “Be a write
Read more

Trusting God in a Highly Suspicious World

Image
Do you remember Alfred E. Newman?   He was Mad Magazine's poster child for the perennial adolescent who's motto for life was "What, me worry?"   The only thing wrong with Alfred was that the reason he never worried about anything was because he was in ignorant bliss.   He was his own boss as a cartoon, not answerable to anyone.   He was created with no obligations whatsoever, so what did he have to worry about?   The real challenge for anyone seeking to live a godly life in a world where Satan goes about seeking whom he may devour is to follow the Lord's instructions to die to self and live a life trusting God for everything. Our natural inclination is to not trust anyone but ourselves.   But that's why someone came up with the phrase, "If someone represents himself in court, he has a fool for a lawyer."   The Biblical equivalent of that is Proverbs 28:26, "He that trusts in his own heart is a fool: but whoever walks wisely, he shall be d
Read more