March 2007

Dear Friend,

Two weeks ago tomorrow my 80-year old mother was transferred by ambulance from the hospital where she had been a patient to a nursing home where she will be until the Lord calls her Home, most likely in just a few weeks.

Since I am an only child, it became my unhappy duty to begin to empty out the apartment where Mom has lived for the last fifteen years. As my wife and I sifted through the meager possessions remaining at the end of a lifetime of "fourscore years," I couldn't help but be struck by the absurdity and futility of evaluating human existence on the basis of "things."

I remember a plaque hanging on the wall of my maternal grandparents' home with these words:

Only one life, 'twill soon be past.
Only what's done for Christ will last.

Surely this is the point of Moses' words in Psalm 90 (10,12):

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if, by reason of strength, they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut
off, and we fly away.
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

And just as surely it is the point of Peter's challenge in 2 Peter 3:11:

Seeing, then, that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness. . .?

It is only the human soul and our service for the Lord which transcend this life and last into eternity. How very wise, then, to invest our lives in redemption of souls through the Gospel of Christ and service to Him.

Sincerely in Messiah Jesus,

Rev. Roger L. Wambold,
General Director