I wrote yesterday about the passing of our friend and former pastor John Stevens. As if I needed another reminder of death, while attending a concert Sunday, I was shocked at the condition of a friend I hadn’t seen in five years. He had aged considerably when I saw him in 2018, but I wasn’t prepared for what I saw Sunday night.

I was standing in the lobby talking with his daughter, and she told me, “I’m waiting for my family.” A few minutes later, I looked and saw what at first glance appeared to be a walking cadaver. “Is that your dad?” She replied, “Yes. He’s declining rapidly.” Hunched over, pale, using a hiking stick for support.

My friend and his wife ended up sitting right behind us at the concert, and we had a long talk during intermission. They couldn’t have been nicer. Only later did I realize that their end of the conversation was carried by his wife.

My friend was a competitive runner and swimmer, a professional counselor, and a Bible teacher. The operative word is “was.” And he’s only six years older than I am…

King David said,

I am about to go the way of all the earth. (1 Kings 2.2, ESV)

The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Corinthians 15.26, ESV)

The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away…So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90.10, 12, ESV)