What Can I Say?

Ah … famous last words. Here’s a few I thought you might enjoy or find interesting:

When convicted murderer James W. Rodgers was put in front of a firing squad in Utah, he was asked if he had any last requests. “Yeah,” he said, “bring me a bullet-proof vest.”

Drummer Buddy Rich died after surgery in 1987. As he was being prepped for surgery, a nurse asked him, “Is there anything you can’t take?” Rich replied, “Yeah … country music.”

When Groucho Marx was dying, he let out one last quip: “This is no way to live.”

Jack Soo was an actor on the TV series “Barney Miller. On the show, there was a running gag about Soo’s character making terrible coffee in the office. Soo developed cancer of the esophagus and, as he was being wheeled into the operating room, joked to “Barney Miller” co-star Hal Linden: “It must have been the coffee.”

John Adams was the second president of the United States. As he lay dying on July 4th, 1826, he last words were: “Thomas Jefferson survives.” Adams and Jefferson began as political rivals, but over the course of time they ended up as friends. What Adams didn’t know was that Jefferson had died several hours earlier.

Wilson Mizner was a playwright known for his quick wit. One of his most famous quotes is: “Be nice to people on the way up because you’ll meet the same people on the way down.” When Mizner was on his deathbed, a priest said: “I’m sure you want to talk to me.” Mizner told the priest: “Why should I talk to you? I’ve just been talking to your boss.”

Actress Joan Crawford yelled at her housekeeper, who was praying as Crawford was dying: “Dang it! Don’t you dare ask God to help me!” …. Only she didn’t say “dang.”

Karl Marx was a journalist and a philosopher. His writings on class and economics became the bedrock of modern Communism. He was truly a man of words, and yet the last thing he ever said was this: “Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough.”

Well … on that note … let me add a few last words of my own this morning. I’m not anybody famous. I’m no Billy Graham or Max Lucado … no Rich Warren or Tony Evans … just a local pastor sent by God and the Florida Conference to serve out here in the Glades. I confess to not being much of an administrator … sorry. Never took any management courses in college or seminary. Prior to becoming a pastor, I was always the flunky, the gopher, a clerk … never reached what you would even call “middle management.” When I got my first church, I was thrown into the deep end of the pool and told to start pastoring … and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since … pastoring as hard as I can, as best as I can, following the SOP [hold up Bible], the “standard operating procedures” and doing my best to follow the dictates and leadings of my Employer … with a capital “E” … and His “job evaluation” is ultimately the only one that matters to me … and I hope that my performance here will show that, while I may not be the brightest and best pastor there ever was, I have given these two churches 100% and have tried to validate His trust and faith in bringing me here to serve you all. He had a job for me to do in the short time that I was here and I hope that I accomplished His purpose or purposes. I also hope and pray that when I sit down with my Boss for my final job evaluation, He’ll say: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You weren’t perfect, by any means, but you gave your all out of love for me and for the people I gave you to serve.”

And now it’s time for another pastor to pick up the mantle and guide you as you continue to seek God’s will and accomplish His purpose in the Glades. And so, I want to leave you with some final thoughts and last words from a great pastor that I will always look up to and humbly try to emulate … the Apostle Paul.

I’ll bet you can what guess the first thing I’m going to ask you do is. Anybody care to guess? Yep! Pray! If you remember anything about me, remember this one thing: I am a prayer warrior. My faith in the power of prayer is unshakeable. My greatest joy has been praying for you, praying with you. I have talked to God with you and, yes, I’ve talked to God about you. We’ve prayed together as a church and I have prayed one-on-one with just about everyone of you here. It there’s one legacy that I’ve left you, I pray it’s this one … an abiding faith and devotion to the importance and power of prayer.