A Great Poem

I came across this poem today in my readings and it struck the chord of my heart. I hope you will read it through a few times and savor the richness that lies therein.

Getting Home Before Dark

by J. Robertson McQuilkin

Photo of Gabon Sunset by S.King (My Beautiful Wife)

It’s sundown, Lord.

The shadows of my life stretch back,

into the dimness of the years long spent.

I fear not death, for that grim foe betrays himself at last,

thrusting me forever into life: life with You, unsoiled and free.

But I do fear.

I fear the dark specter may come too soon–or do I mean too late?

I fear that before I finish I might stain Your honor,

shame Your name, grieve Your loving heart.

Few, they tell me, finish well.

Lord, let me get home before dark.

Will my life show the darkness of a spirit grown mean and small,

fruit shriveled on the vine, bitter to the taste of my companions,

a burden to be borne by those brave few who love me still?

No, Lord, let the fruit grow lush and sweet, a joy to all who taste,

a Spirit-sign of God at work, stronger, fuller. Brighter at the end.

Lord, let me get home before dark.

Will be the darkness of tattered gifts,

rust-locked, half-spent, or ill-spent,

a life that once was used of God now set aside?

Grief for glories gone or fretting for a task God never gave?

Mourning in the hollow chambers of memory,

gazing on the faded banners of victories long gone?

Cannot I run well until the end?

Lord, let me get home before dark.

The outer me decays–I do not fret or ask reprieve.

The ebbing strength but weans me from mother earth

and grows me up for heaven.

I do not cling to shadows cast by mortality.

I do not patch the scaffold lent to build the real, eternal me.

I do not clutch about me my cocoon,

vainly struggling to hold hostage a free spirit pressing to be born.

But will I reach the gate in lingering pain–body distorted, gro-tesque?

Or will it be a mind wandering,

untethered among light phantasies or grim terrors?

Of Your grace, Father, I humbly ask…let me get home before dark.

AMEN!

Here are some more wonderful photos of Gabon sunsets that my wife has taken over the years. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Truth and Love

This year our church is reading through the New Testament, one book at a time. We will generally start a new book as part of our Sunday night service. I will usually give some background, contextual and historical information to help bring greater fruitfulness to our reading. After the service I will hand out a plan which maps the chapter(s) we will be reading each day. For our Wednesday night service, I preach from the book we are currently reading. This has proven to be a fruitful and arduous task for me as a preacher because it requires me to expand my ‘comfort zone’ and force myself into a text from that week’s reading.

Last week, we began to look into the three epistles of John and I stumbled upon an interesting account of the latter part of the Apostle’s life. An early church writer named Jerome tells the story of the Apostle being carried into church because he could no longer walk. The church members would often ask him to speak and when he did, he would mostly repeat the same thing, “Little children, love one another.” The parishioners thought he was going senile until he explained, “…this is the Lord’s command and if this only is done, it is enough.”

It appears from most sources that the Apostle did his writing when he was well into his eighties and could no longer travel. It occurred to me that here is a man who walked with Jesus for three years in person and then an additional six decades by the Spirit. Through the process of sanctification, he became more and more like his savior with each passing year and we have the privilege of looking into the wisdom that occupies the mind of this old(er) disciple.

When you read through his first epistle you will notice two veins of thought; truth and love. You also see this focus throughout his gospel, as if he is highlighting it in the life of Jesus. From the accounts given to us of John, it isn't hard to believe he was a man zealous for truth. For instance, we have the time when he wanted to go “Sodom and Gomorrah’ on the Samaritans because they refused to receive Jesus into their city. Jesus rebuked him by telling him that he did not come to destroy people but to save them. I’m sure it was after that episode that they started calling him and his brother the “son’s of thunder.”

We can see from this account that the young disciple was very zealous for the truth and willing to kill anyone that would choose to reject it. Then we read that this was also the same John who was audacious enough to request a place at the side of the throne of Jesus, much to the repugnance of the other disciples and he seems largely unfazed by his own pejorative overtones toward them. Looking at these stories of his younger years, I understand and see his zeal for the truth but fail to see any love for the people Jesus is trying to reach or even His own brethren.

But now, six decades later, we see a different man. His zeal for truth is still as strong as ever as he slices through false teaching and the wolves that disperse it. However, now there is a whole new element woven into the fabric of this mans life. His zeal for truth has been balanced with a love for people. Instead of killing people, he is doing all he can to love and save them. He wants to guard the truth and he wants to guard the love. In fact, he took it so far as to say that if you don’t know love, then you don’t know God. He placed love at the apex of revelation.

There are many people zealous for truth but lacking love and there are many people so filled with love that they pay little attention to truth. Here in the life of John we find a beautiful combination of the two working side by side in the same man. Growing in God should involve growing in love; a love for His truth and a love for the people He wants to save.

Don’t be too Late!

My wife and I invited a couple over to our house to eat a number of weeks ago. I spoke with the husband on Sunday night after church and we set the time for Monday at three o’clock. The next day I called him around ten o’clock just to confirm our appointment which he confirmed and expressed that they were excited to be coming over.

My wife began cooking around one-thirty just to make sure everything would be ready when they arrived. By three o’clock the table was set and the food was ready, all that was missing were our guests. By three-thirty, I began to get a little worried and called the man just to make sure everything was okay.

“Yes Pastor, everything is fine, we are coming,” He said over the phone.

I said, “Okay, I’m just a little concerned because we set the time for three and it’s already three-thirty.”

“Yeah, no worries Pastor, we are on our way.” He assured me.

So we waited. Four o’clock came and left without their arrival. Five o’clock, nothing. At five-thirty, the food was cold and I was hot. It is amazing to me how the temperature inside of me began to rise as the temperature of the food began to cool.

I called him back, “Where are you? Is everything okay?” I asked, with half of me concerned and the other half vexed.

“Yes Pastor, everything is fine.” He replied jovially, “We are coming.”

“What do you mean you are coming?!? What in the world is going on?” I yelled (calmly) over the phone, “We set the time for three o’clock, it’s already five-thirty and you are nowhere to be seen. The food is cold!!!”

“Oh, but Pastor…” he replied, “Don’t you know, we are coming in ‘Africa time’" (which is the local excuse for always being late). "Don’t worry, we will be there soon.”

I must say in all honesty that I was very tempted to lock the gate and sit down to eat with my family, not letting the guests in when they got here, but I didn’t. However, when they finally arrived at my house, I informed them that ‘Africa time’ is too late and if I ever did invite them over again, the door would be locked a minute past our agreed time, leaving them outside wondering what they could have eaten from Sara’s Cuisine.

Now, you can say that I am mean and that I need to learn patience, and I could not disagree with you. You have no idea how impatient I am when food is before me and my belly is empty. But, the fact is that God is very concerned with respect towards time; his timekeeping is perfect. As Christians we should learn to emulate the example of our creator and not follow the demise of our culture.

For an illustration of this, we need to look no further than our own solar system with all the various planets rotating and moving with impeccable timing. Or, you can look at God’s appointment with Sarah in Genesis, “about this time next year…Sarah shall have a son.” and sure enough, God kept his appointment. You can also examine in Numbers where God says, “Let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time…on the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time…”

Here is my point; God keeps his appointments and expects us to keep ours. When you are late, you miss out. Coming late for dinner is one thing, but I am writing now concerning life. God has given us a limited amount of time on this earth and we can not afford to waste any of it. We must give it all to Him for His glory.

There will come a day when your time on earth will expire and any unfinished business will be left unfinished; everything in this life will freeze in time as you move on into eternity. At that moment, it will be too late to love, too late to forgive, too late to evangelize, too late to get your heart right with God and too late to get things right with loved ones. The list goes on.

Jesus told the story in Luke chapter sixteen of the rich man and Lazarus as death comes to them both and their fortunes are reversed. The rich man becomes a beggar in eternity. He begs for a drip of water from the finger of the man he passed by everyday who was laying at his gate in need. Then he cries out for Abraham to send someone to his home to speak of the truth of eternity to his unbelieving brothers. This man who was once rich in his life became a sad beggar in eternity because he believed too late, prayed too late and he cared too late.

Jesus gives us this illustration to tell us that time does matter; it matters to Him, it matters to us and it matters to the people around us. He gives the story to us to tell us that ‘African time’ is not acceptable for appointments and it is not acceptable for life. Don't be too late!

“We must work…as long as it is day; night is coming, when no man can work.” (John 9:4)