The Miracle Cure

For as long as people have aged,  many have been facinated by the idea of eternal youth.  Years ago there was a search for the fountain of youth, then there were elixirs and creams that would cleanse from within and smooth or clarify the skin.  Then laser technology and botox boosted the number of human beings walking around looking years younger than their age dictates. 

Today, at the close of my 58th year, I think of one of my mentors who is teaching me how to age.   He relies upon the miracle cure that assures vigor and vitality. 

He is ninety years old, and makes no effort to disquise that reality.  He moves slowly when he must, yet he is a dynamo and a powerhouse regularly.  He asks for help when his old brain fails to retrieve detailed information, yet he regularly proclaims the Gospel with compelling and often life changing power.

This guy retired from full time ministry 25 years ago.  And in the last 25 years he has served more than 5 churches,and has completed several successful interims.  He has walked the mission field and is currently looking for the next one.  He has learned to play the piano, and now he is studying voice so that his oration can reverberate a la Orson Welles.  I sail with this guy, and he revels in a sporty day on the unbriney blue.  He is a carpenter and a woodcarver, an artist, an insatiable reader and a fluid writer.  In addition to all of that his servant heart pulses vigorously, overseeing the planning and building of 21 Habitat for Humanity homes in 16 years.

He has had open heart surgery and has stood before cancer, and says that he knows what it is like to have Death standing at his shoulder. 

This man is a walking, breathing, serving manifestation of a human who lives with one foot in youth and the other in age.  He is humble, yet assertive.  He puts up with no nonsense yet delights in the surprise of humor, especially when he himself can be the source of glee. 

Recently, at his current congregation where he serves as visitation pastor, he was given minutes notice (yes!  minutes!) that he was both to preach and preside.  (Truth be told, there have been numerous and recurring times in his current call where that has happened.)  I asked him how he does it -- for I know of several pastors who need much more lead time and would grouse loudly at repeated and (seemingly) irresponsible communication from colleagues and committees planning worship. 

His answer is sincere, simple and clear.  His answer points to the source, the miracle cure.  "The call of the Holy Spirit never lets me down," he says.  "When I begin to speak in His name, or as I offer the sacred and holy words of liturgy, something happens that transforms me from within.  I am supported, inspired and invigorated, because I am responding to His call." 

I thought of this amazing man when I read today's scripture.  Surely the ninety year old body is continually dissolving.  It will weaken and eventually (and he says this himself) my mentor won't be the one standing at the edge of the grave speaking the words of commendation:  Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. 

But the more the guy ages, the more I see the eternal light of Christ radiating from all that he says and does.  His eyes twinkle with the call of the Spirit.  His countenance shines with the Love unleashed upon and within him from the moment he was baptized. 

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

Indeed, I look upon this man and I can see all that is temporary about him giving way and pointing to what is eternal! 

I think I wanna be like him when I grow up!