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Voice from the Pew
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  Click the clock for encouragement  Are You Living or Dying as the Clock Ticks?by Troop Hays Whether we are in the autumn of life or younger, it behooves us to live every day as if it were the last. I recently heard a chaplain of a hospice service say that patients are not taught to die but to live. This was an amazing statement, but it fits us all whether we are physically fit or on the verge of dying. Now I realize that dying is not a matter to be treated nonchalantly or like a joke. But let’s take a look at ourselves when we feel no purpose or plan for our lives. It is no secret that life consists of activity and a sense of purpose. It may be in our vocation and/or hopefully in all the duties we perform. Not the least of these is the work we do to grow the Kingdom of God. Where does the church fit in this picture? More often than not people join a church and are not provided with an opportunity for service. This is a maligning fact of life. There are those who serve regardless of the circumstances. Churches have an obligation under the Kingdom’s plan to enlist all believers in the work of the Kingdom. Once a lady was being honored with a birthday party. She was somewhat elderly. Someone remarked, "Why, you are beautiful!" To this statement she replied, "I should be, I’m 74 years old." No resignation here. This lady continues in the race and this is true of a host of people her age and older. But many feel that old age or retirement is a time to give up. A host of younger folks can be found in this category. About hospice? While I did not discuss with the chaplain his meaning of the statement, I do believe he meant that every person should live in daily communion with our Lord and interacting with family and friends. In other words, life should be lived fully. When our physical and mental faculties permit, we should continue to live until the Lord calls us home.
   C. S. Lewis experienced his metamorphosis when, as an Oxford professor, he read the Bible with the sole reason of discrediting it. Instead he found the ultimate truth of the universe and he became a Christian. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Russian intellectual imprisoned for dissenting against the brutal Soviet regime, found his metamorphosis on the verge of death in a prison camp. A Jewish doctor who was also a prisoner named Boris Nikolayevich Kornfeld met a sick Solzhenitsyn in the prison hospital. Dr. Kornfeld had recently become a Christian, and he believed that Solzhenitsyn, due to his ill health, would not survive the night. So Dr. Kornfeld shared the words of life with him. That night, however, it was Dr. Kornfeld who died instead of Solzhenitsyn. Kornfeld was murdered, but the words he spoke would not leave Solzhenitsyn's mind. Want to read what C.S. Lewis said about cats?Click Here
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