March 9, 2014 Hi Dad,
As we visited together for the last time, face to face in this world, your biggest frustration was your 90 year old body being eaten away by cancer, pain and old age. I know that it frustrated you that you could not get up and hug me when I arrived. We Goodyear’s don’t like to be seen in our weakness, and so often we put on the masquerade pretending that all is well, when in reality it is all falling apart. It is a common plight amongst men.
But then we reach that stage in life that you are in right now, where you can’t hide it any longer, you suffer with it, and it is all there for people to see. The mask is ripped off, and there we are as naked as Adam & Eve in the garden, disrobed by our sins. In our old age we have become weak, feeble, helpless, and dependent on others for just about everything. It is maddening. Indeed it leads us back into anger, our old foe that we thought we had defeated long ago. The serpent of old is trying to bite us one last time and ruin our witness while discouraging our faith.
For some reason (no good reason) we feel ashamed and embarrassed because of our weakened condition. We leave this world as we came in, with someone feeding us and cleaning up after us. We don’t hold against others for being weak, but we don’t tolerate it in ourselves. But then time brings us to our knees and we realize that we are just like everyone else. God has worked hard at humbling us all of our lives. He thinks that humility is the greatest. We are not so keen on the idea. We have resisted His efforts in so many ways due to our ego & pride.
Philippians 2:5-13
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
There is no question, death is the great equalizer, the thing that brings us all to our knees, and humbles us like nothing else. God specializes in taking the humble and exalting them forever in His New Kingdom. It is all a part of His grand plan in preparing us for eternity with Him.
On the plane flying home, I was reading and listing to my i-pod, the play list that I put together with your favorite songs. Then I heard this song, one of yours and moms favorites. It was written and composed by Stuart Hamblen in 1954. He was the son of a Methodist preacher who had been corrupted by the success and fame in the county music industry. He was saved at a Billy Graham crusade and spent the rest of his life serving God. He as a regular guest star with Billy Graham, drawing 1000’s to the crusades.
The song was “This Ole House“. It was inspired while on a hunting trip in the High Sierras with a friend. The two men came upon what looked like an abandoned shack, wherein they found the body of an elderly man, apparently dead of natural causes. Hamblen came up with the lyrics to the song while riding horse-back down the mountain, and composed the melody within a week. It became a number one hit for Rosemary Clooney, and later recorded by the Sattler Brothers.
This ole house once knew his children
This ole house once knew his wife
This ole house was home and comfort
As they fought the storms of life
This old house once rang with laughter
This old house heard many shouts
Now he trembles in the darkness
When the lightnin’ walks about
CHORUS:
Ain’t a-gonna need this house no longer
Ain’t a-gonna need this house no more
Ain’t got time to fix the shingles
Ain’t got time to fix the floor
Ain’t got time to oil the hinges
Nor to mend the windowpane
Ain’t a-gonna need this house no longer
He’s a-gettin’ ready to meet the saints
This ole house is a-gettin’ shaky
This ole house is a-gettin’ old
This ole house lets in the rain
This ole house lets in the cold
On his knees I’m gettin’ chilly
But he feel no fear nor pain
‘Cause he see an angel peekin’
Through a broken windowpane
CHORUS
This ole house is afraid of thunder
This ole house is afraid of storms
This ole house just groans and trembles
When the night wind flings its arms
This ole house is gettin’ feeble
This old house is needin’ paint
Just like him it’s tuckered out
But he’s a-gettin’ ready to meet the saints
CHORUS
I cried when I heard it and thought of you in your pain and misery.
The stewardess on the plane didn’t know what to do, those around me just stared. They were tears of joy Dad! That old body of yours doesn’t need to be fixed up. You’re gettin’ ready to meet the saints. Mom, your life time dancing partner is there waiting for you to give her a swing!
With all my love, Mike
PS – That is going to be one of the songs of joy at the celebration of your home-going.
Coram Deo, Pastor Mike