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October 28th, 2017| Topic: RaMbLeS | 4

He’s 90! My father became a nonagenarian last week, beating the biblical average.

As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away.
Psalm 90:10

Indeed.

In fact, hardly a day goes by without Dad saying wistfully …

I don’t know why the Lord’s keeping me here and not calling me Home.”

I tell him it so that we, his family, may be prayed for.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me;
and I do not know which to choose.
But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ,
for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.
Philippians 1:21–24

His sister’s granddaughter (in Nigeria) had an interesting conversation with him on his birthday.

Lola:

അപ്പച്ചൻ [“grandfather” in Malayalam], happy birthday! I wish you very good health and happiness for the years ahead!!

And അപ്പച്ചൻ goes:

Years ahead?!! I’ve already had 90, that’s enough. I’m good.”

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.
2 Timothy 4:6

I love what Paul says next:

In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day;
and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
2 Timothy 4:8–9

A special reward for those who long for the eternal kingdom, Home!

Dad’s has backed off a bit recently on his wanting to go Home: he’s got a great-grandson incubating, due in a couple of months.

But I gotta hand it to him. He’s looking ahead to another day, another land, another realm, the divine kingdom.

When I was in Scotland, I kept two clocks on my wall—one set to local time (GMT), the other to Dallas time (CT), to remind myself where I belonged.

Dad’s doing it one better. He still functions on CT here in Texas, splitting his days between my brother’s place in Houston and mine in Dallas, but he has another clock whose tick is getting louder, whose tock is getting more real.

We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body
and to be at home with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:8

Two clocks. Temporal and eternal. Bound to earth, but heaven-bound. Two clocks. One pointing to home and the other to Home—the Real One, where his wife is, where several of his siblings are, where the saints of yesteryear are, where his “dwelling place” is, where there will be no longer be any death, mourning, crying or pain, because that’s where his Savior is—the One who loved him and gave Himself up for him, so that it is no longer he who lives, but Christ in him ….

Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ,
keep seeking the things above, where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on the things above,
not on the things that are on earth.
For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:1–3

Two clocks. Two time zones. Two places. Already … but not yet.

A great attitude. Not just for nonagenarians, but for all children of God.

We’re going HOME … soon!