A Life Well Lived - November 20th

Luke 12:33 “Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.”

Did you know that breathing is technically an involuntary action? But in some trickery of the mind, some evil scheme from the Master Creator, if you think about your breathing, you can control it. Slowly breathe in right now. Hold it in for five seconds, and then slowly breathe out. You are now in control of your breathing because you're thinking about it and you're choosing to breathe. It's freeing knowing that you can override this desire, but it's stressful when you can't stop thinking about it.

That's where I was yesterday in the hospital with my family. It's all I could think about as I saw my uncle Phil in the last bed he'd ever lay in. Hooked up to a respirator, unconscious, his breathing came at its own pace. He'd take a breath as deep as he could, and we'd all hold ours waiting for his next one. Eventually the breaths became shallower and shallower as his body stopped absorbing the oxygen and his brain slowly shut down. He'd stopped breathing before they even took the respirator away.

In that moment with Phil, I realized how fragile human life really is. It doesn't take a two-year long struggle with terminal cancer to kill someone. It only takes a few moments of not being able to inhale. And although Phil's breath didn't last, that's not what we'll remember him for. That hospital room was strictly standing-room only for nearly the entire day. Most of his stress when he was in critical condition over the last few months came from the room being too crowded - all of his friends and family being too noisy. He was almost too loved. And why? Phil never did anything flashy. He never became famous, he never pursued riches, he never ran off to America to make a life for himself. He stayed right where he was raised and simply loved the people around him with every ounce of his being. He's in Heaven's hall of fame because he so brilliantly followed in the footsteps of Jesus, abandoning all worldly desires and pouring out his life to others, up until his very last moments on Earth.

Phil will be missed, but what he taught all of us is that a life well lived will never be forgotten. I pray that I would be half the man he was. Here in a foreign land with only my family and a few friends to lean on, it's easy for me to focus on myself. No more. Lord, let me love the way Phil loved. Expand my heart for the people around me, and let my passion for serving them be a genuine extension of your passion. Let me live a life worthy of your sacrifice, one that will be richly rewarded when I see you face to face with a smile and those coveted words: “well done, good and faithful servant”. I know Phil is hearing those words now, and all his tears are being washed away.

As I stood over Phil's body in a moment alone with him last night, I cried out to God to bring him back, and I felt God's Presence so strongly in the room. I would have given anything to see that body reanimate and Phil to come back to life. You are the miracle worker, Jesus, and you are the resurrected one. You can do all things, and you could bring Phil back like it was nothing. But as I felt the love of God around me like a warm blanket and heard the soft, pure voice of Daddy God, I could see Phil in that moment coming into the arms of Jesus and I knew that it wasn't right to tear him away.

Well done, Phil. You will never be forgotten.

Song of the day (feat. Phil Townend):