MERRY MONDAY BY PARRIS
For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.
Phil.1:3
Paul lived on the edge throughout his short ministry life so that whether he lives he will live to the Lord, or whether he dies, he will die to the Lord. He had so completely accepted it as his life’s purpose to magnify Jesus, that the most extremely possible changes of condition came to be insignificant to him. He had what we may have, the true anesthetic against life’s storms. He saw himself changing from one citizenship to another in the blink of an eye.
One of my dearest friends passed away this week to Glioblastoma after two years of fighting. The past few years some very close friends of ours have died of this same brain tumor so we were very much aware of the fight she faced. Upon her diagnosis I paid her a visit that made a huge impact on my life. As we sat over tea she was so thankful to be have been given “the time to prepare for heaven”, to forgive all those that hurt her, seek forgiveness for any wrong doing and finish what she felt the Lord would have her do. While she believed in healing she accepted the challenge to take each day and live it to the fullest. I was thankful to be able to visit her on and on throughout the last two years, each visit leaving the aroma of Christ upon my life. The same day of her arrival in heaven was my Marysong Banquet. Throughout the day I found my self between tears of joy and tears of sorrow for my friend who will be surely missed by many people. She left a huge family behind. At the Banquet it was such an honor to be around the girls that we have poured into over the years sharing their story of redemption. I felt proud to know that Susie would share the same joy with me. We both, I guess you could say, are fulfilling our destinies. She ran her race with such beauty, her life challenges me to press on toward the mark.
McClarens commentary says, “If we magnify Christ in our lives with the same passionate earnestness and concentrated absorption as Paul had, our lives like some train on well-laid rails will enter upon the bridge across the valley with scarce a jolt. With whatever differences–and the differences are to us tremendous–the same purpose will be pursued in life and in death, and they who, living, live to the praise of Christ, dying will magnify Him as their last act in the body which they leave.”
I will see you soon enough Susie! You inspired us all!