With great sadness, but more joy, I received news yesterday that someone I have known for ten years transcended this life. She went to be with the Lord. I have been witness to some of the triumphs and tragedies of her last ten years. I witnessed her marriage to my former pastor; with others of our congregation I prayed for and awaited her return to the United States after being sentenced to bedrest in London during the last months of her pregnancy and premature birth of their son.
She loved food. I recall her intense facial expressions when something pleased her palate. She made me smile with pleasure by devouring my chocolate chip cookies, and even made special requests for them. A little size 2 of a woman, she wore an extra-extra-large garment made of a special cloth -- a blend of equal parts of love, joy, and peace; triple-stitched with patience, kindness, and goodness; and accessorized with the perfect balance of faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. While very pleasing to most men's eyes, her real beauty lay deep within the core of her being.
The joyful news is that her suffering is over. The sad news is that those of us who are left will have to wait to see her again. I wonder how much time that will be.
What about time? That's sort of a touchy subject for some because we know we're not immortal. We're all going to depart this earth, but we don't know how much time we have: Days? Weeks? Months? Years? A decade or two? We really don't know.
So it puzzles me when people say that they're going to do X when Y gets right: "I'm going to go to church when I stop drinking, or when I stop seeing that married man or woman, or when I get rid of my addiction I'll go to church." The problem is that we cannot get ourselves right to go to God; we need to go to God to get ourselves right. If we could do it by ourselves, we wouldn't need God. The fact is we are not equipped to do it ourselves. We need to learn about God, and especially learn to listen to Him to understand how He works in our lives and to deal with the baggage that we have. My fear is that many of us are waiting until tomorrow. Unfortunately, unlike Gwen's departure, it is not always inevitable.
We say that our church grounds, and especially our sanctuaries, are consecrated; they're holy. And that is so true. But I cannot think of a better place for an addict to lay his crack pipe than on the altar of any sanctuary if it is symbolic of him or her laying that burden down and saying "here, God, I can't handle this; help me with this; you can handle this for me. I put my life in Your hands and want You to help me deal with this albatross -- not just around my neck, but my life." Our sanctuaries are not so sacred that we cannot come in and lay our burdens at the altar. No, we don't have to do this in a tangible way, but just symbolically. When we go to God and confess to Him that we are sinners, ask Him for forgiveness, and confess that we know we cannot truly live without Him, in essence, we are laying our burdens on the altar – the altar of our hearts – to God.
And so I encourage you today: Don't wait until you end that affair; you cannot truly end it without Him. Don't wait until you've had the last rock of crack or that last snort of cocaine; you cannot truly end it without Him. Don’t wait unto the next time you strike your mate, curse your parents or children, or make another deal that is great for you but lousy for the folks who have entrusted their resources to you. There will always be another if you keep putting it off. And if you think you're okay and there's nothing wrong with you -- especially if you think you're okay -- don't wait - run! Run as fast as you can to God. Turn yourself over Him and He'll help you get through it. He'll help you conquer those demons and win those battles. Will it be easy? Absolutely not. But when you get through it, life will be so much rewarding.
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