Point to Remember, Part II

Several years ago, I presided at a funeral for a man who passed away unexpectedly. With the sudden nature of everything, the family was visibly upset but they had a wonderful support network. While I was standing in the cemetery with the other funeral home people, the secretary told me a story that I have not forgotten. She said that one of the former morticians was leaving for vacation. He came into her office and asked if anyone was pending. Her response was, "Aren't we all!" She said the mortician really did not know what to say, but there is definitely truth in those words. Just like the story that I used this past weekend, a man found an article that said that the average life span for people is 75 years of age. He was already 55. When he totaled up the 52 weeks of the year, he found that he had 3,900 Saturdays left. He went to several toy stores, bought marbles and put them in a jar. Then every Saturday he would take a marble out until one Saturday, 20 years later, he had one marble left. Instead of being sad, he was grateful for the extra Saturdays would be gifts from God. The bottom line is, we are given a number of marbles in our lifetime and when those marbles are used up then life as we know it here ends. Only God knows the day and the hour! That is why being prepared is so important. Hopefully those passages about preparation are not heard just when we come to church, but that we keep them in mind everyday because it is a reality and we are pending! God Bless our journey!!