Retired pastor John E. Harnish wonders how we continue to live abundantly and hold fast to our faith in Christ as age or health problems impact us.
JOHN E. HARNISH
Retired Pastor, Michigan Conference
A friend told me about a woman who was convinced she had some major illness. Her doctors could find nothing, so she checked herself into the Mayo Clinic and went through every test, and they came to the same conclusion — they could find nothing wrong. She lived another 30 years, all the while worrying about her health and fearing her impending death. Three decades later, when she finally did die, her last words to her husband were, “See? I told you Mayo Clinic was wrong.”
By contrast, this month brings back memories of August 1980. My father, at only 59 years old, was dying of cancer. My preacher-brother Jim flew to Pennsylvania from Florida to show Dad the plans for the new church they were building in Orlando. Dad was pleased, but knowing he would never see it, he said, “Well, I guess there is always something you would like to live long enough to see.” Still looking ahead with hope and anticipation, he held on to a steadfast faith in Christ even as his physical strength was failing.
E. Stanley Jones, the great global Christian and Methodist evangelist, traveled the world, wrote 28 books, and preached on every continent. At 87 years of age, he was struck with a crippling stroke that seriously affected his speech as well as his mobility. Rev. Charles Yoost, a seminary student at the time, went to visit him in the nursing home. Yoost wrote, “We went to the hospital expecting to visit a sick, old man. Instead, we found him to be exciting and challenging. Although he was recovering from the stroke, Stanley Jones was fully alive. He was partly paralyzed, but his faith and zeal were as strong as ever. He told us of his stroke, then of all things, about his plans for the future!”
His plans for the future included the determination to write one more book, which his daughter completed after his death from scribbled notes and garbled dictation on a tape recorder. He called it The Divine Yes, and it was based on 2 Corinthians 1:19b-20a: “The divine ‘yes’ has at last sounded in [Christ], for in him is the ‘yes’ that affirms all the promises of God” (Moffatt translation).
Yoost said, “He asked us, ‘How can I write on the divine ‘yes’ when my body is saying ‘no’? Then he laughed and continued to write the book, which would be his last word to the world.” As Jones approached the end of his life, he went on living abundantly despite his disabilities.
In Jones’ book Abundant Living, he includes this prayer: “O Christ, we thank Thee that the last word is not useless regrets over the defeated yesterdays, or the difficult days, but the last word is the dawning tomorrow. With Thee, the best is yet to be. We salute the Dawn with a cheer, for we have the Dawn within us.”
At 77 years old, I have no idea what the next couple of decades will hold, but I’m smart enough to know that at some point, I will probably face physical decline and, yes, even death. The only certainty is that none of us will get out of this life alive. Between now and then, I hope to live with that sense of hope and joy, making the most of every day, saying “yes” to life, and saluting the Dawn.
Last Updated on August 7, 2024