MOVING ON AND YET STAYING

MOVING ON AND YET STAYING

Friday, December 16, 2016

1Corinthians 15 [ESV / please read chapter in entirety.]  Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, … if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. … For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. … If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. … So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. … As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. … For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. [Lk.19:13d; Act.4:11-12]

  At 11am yesterday I left home for the pleasant 45 minute drive north to Fremont.

  In August of 1984, due to congress and court breaking up the Bell System, I transferred from the Baltimore to the Omaha Works to do the same job as in Maryland. My nearly 30 year service counted for everything but shift preference. I had not been solving problems very long that first afternoon when I was approached by a smiling slight built man that walks as though he just dismounted a cowpony. Don had heard there is a new man over in an adjacent shop, sought and found me, introduced himself and offered any help he was able to give, and then invited me and my family to his home that weekend. There we met Don’s wonderful family. We have remained close friends ever since.

  Yesterday it was obvious that pancreatic cancer was taking a physical toll, but definitely not expensive to Don’s spiritual person. As always, he wanted to know about me, mine, and others. I had to repeatedly reverse the conversation. The core topic however had to do with leaving this life, but knowing that continuance of citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven is unchanged. Ours is a conversation of blessed assurance with accompanying peace and freedom. (Phil.3:18-21)

  Then we together went to see Don’s son Pat, he also suffering with serious cancer. Unremarkably the spiritual conversation continued unchanged.

  I would not suggest for one minute that physically dying is an easy thing, but that when everlasting citizenship is held secure, death comparatively is but a sting in a child of God’s eternal life. (Jn.1:12)

  To Don I did not nor will I say goodbye for I shall see my beloved friend again later. Should I not unexpectedly pass before him, Don, with Lori, Ann, and a multitude will be watching those of us still serving in this waiting room. (Heb.12:1-2)

EBB4