Suddenly my Dad is old. He’s 85 now so you might think I’ve been warming up to the idea of his senior status but you’d be wrong. While vacationing recently I had the opportunity to spend a day at my folks’ house helping them with some things they can no longer do for themselves. I did some painting, cleaned out the gutters and changed a light bulb in their kitchen overhead light. It was on that last job that Dad’s failing physical abilities became most evident. I got the ladder in position and he decided he could do the job so he climbed the couple steps but found he couldn’t extend his arms enough to get the globe off the fixture.

Just a few years ago, he and I carried a couch up a flight of stairs and I was surprised by his abilities even as I questioned every step he took (he’s had two bypass surgeries). Now after “supervising” me for a day he spent the whole next day in his recliner. Even his voice is sounding weak. I want to go back to the days when I’d tell him he shouldn’t be doing something and him proving me wrong. I want to go back tot he days when he’d say, “Don’t tell your mother we did this.”

There’s something very sobering about watching your father age. There’s something very comforting about knowing that a day of renewal is coming for all who are in Jesus Christ.

– Pastor Joel Everhart