I went hunting last week and harvested a couple of does. I saw two big bucks later that week but let them live for another day because even though they were big, they weren’t quite big enough to harvest. The first one that appeared had a large high rack, but it wasn’t heavy, and I judged him to be about 2 ½ years old. Almost instantly another appeared, and he was bigger and much heavier, and I estimated him to be four and a half years old. I watched them for a good 30 minutes from about 35 yards and finally decided to let them both go for another year before harvesting them.
This is assuming that the bucks and I will live through the season and be around when it comes time to harvest one. I look at the world, Israel, and Ukraine and the thousands of folks in their wars, and before that it was Afghanistan and before that Iraq. This is not to mention all those who lost their lives to disease. I doubt that many were prepared to exit this earth when they did, especially those kids in Israel at the rock concert. Nonetheless they are no longer in the land of the living on this planet and most lost their lives suddenly.
I’m going in for a liver biopsy this Tuesday and at least according to the doctors I appear to have a grave condition that may preclude any plans I have to continue with life for an extended amount of time. I have faced many such death defying storms in life and perhaps I have a few left in me and then again maybe my life has about run its course. I always have felt that our lives and deaths are preset by God. When the plans for my life and yours have reached their fulfillment, then God will call us home.
There is no cause for fear. A friend of mine told me that that for heaven’s sake I’m 76 years old and no one in his extended family ever lived past 70. Hmmm . . . Come to think of it my mother died at 52, all my uncles lived to 55 and only my father lived to the ripe old age of 93. My buddy told me about the lone exception of living a long life was his mother. She lived to be over a hundred and then he looked at me somberly and asked if I really wanted to live to be over 100. He said it was hard to imagine looking at oneself in the mirror now, much less at that age.
I am more concerned about my wife of 54 years than I am about me. I don’t want her to be lonely. As far as desiring to live forever, perish the thought. I just want to serve God until He gives me the call. I’ve had a long life with adventure galore and when I take my last breath my adventure continues and just begins. So, what is there to fear or dread? Heaven will be grand and who knows what projects I’ll have to help Jesus. Folks don’t dread heaven; look forward to it and love your God right up until you get out of here.
Mark 12:30
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’