There Is Rarely A Week That Goes By When I Don't ...

There is rarely a week that goes by when I don’t make a hospital visit. Because I visit the hospital so frequently, I will admit that after a few weeks have passed most hospital visits sort of fade from my memory. However, I want to finish up this morning by telling you about a hospital visit I made over 20 years ago that I remember well. I went to the Veterans Hospital in Poplar Bluff to visit my Uncle Luther. He was a rough old guy. He was more likely to cuss at you than he was to say something nice. So, when I walked into his room that day I was totally unprepared for what I encountered. He was crying. I’ll never forget his words as long as I have my mind. He said, "Tim, I’ve wasted my life & now it’s too late to do anything about it. I’m a bitter old man. I’ve been bitter about things that really don’t matter at this point." Uncle Luther had accepted the Lord just before this, but when he looked back at his life, he had wasted it. He hadn’t lived well & he knew it. I made a commitment to God that day after I left that with His help, I wouldn’t live a life that would be that empty when it came my time to die. Though more than twenty years have passed since that time, I have never forgotten. Uncle Luther waited too long to live his life differently, but his experience can challenge us to live differently today.