"Christianity is not a theory or speculation, but
a life; not a philosophy of life, but a living
presence." -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Well, it’s the last Lord’s Day of the year and I suppose that our lesson
today ought to reflect that thought in some way. I’ve given some thought as to
how to go about that and I decided that I’d tell you a little story about some
thoughts a retired state trooper had about his life, his career and life in
general. His story centered around this holiday season of the year so I thought
that I could tell it to you and then draw some spiritual thoughts from its
telling. Here’s his story, as he told it, paraphrased by me for space
restraints.
It was Christmas Eve and retired trooper Bob Welch was alone at home now as
his kids had long since grown up and were gone from the house and his wife had
passed away. The holiday season is good for bringing to mind old memories of
past seasons and as he sat in his easy chair, he began reminiscing about some of
those long past Christmas Eves.
He said that his wife usually did most of the holiday things for the family
as he was usually working. One of those memories was the Christmas Eve when he
was dispatched to the scene of a terrible accident wherein a woman was killed.
And then he was tasked with having to make the "next of kin" notification.
(Trust me, this is one part of the job you do not relish having to do)
He drove to the family’s address and knocked on the door. A little girl about
4 years old answered it and said, "I’m Sue McKay." He asked if her daddy was
home and after a pause, she said "my daddy ran away." She wanted to know if he
was Santa Claus because her mother had told her if she stayed in bed, Santa
Claus would come and bring her a doll.
That night, he went against the rules and did not call Child Protective
Services. Instead, he took her home to his wife who cleaned her up, put her into
bed and then wrapped up a doll for her to open the next morning. She was later
adopted by a loving family and they moved away from the area. He said that he
had never forgotten that Christmas Eve and little Sue McKay.
He recalled working another Christmas Eve in a severe blizzard and he
happened upon a family who’s car had slid off the icy highway into a ditch and
was stuck. He said that it was by "the grace of God" that he happened to come
down that road and find them that night, very cold and very scared. He took them
to a motel where they were able to spend the night safely.
Then he remembered one other rainy Christmas Eve when he found a homeless man
standing by the highway trying to catch a ride. It seemed pretty apparent that
he’d never get a ride on this night so he picked the man up and took him to a
diner down the road and left him where he could get dry and warm and gave him $5
to get some food.
He said that it’s strange when later you’re all alone and you get to thinking
about those past occasions and about all that you’ve done with your life. You
think about God, and your wife, and your family. About the job and the career
you had and you ask yourself, "Was it worth it all? Did I do good? If I could
live my life over, would I do it the same way? "
Then he heard a knock on his front door. It’s late, who could possibly be at
his house? He answered the door and had a sudden fright as he saw a uniformed
State Trooper standing there with a solemn appearance. His immediate thought
was, "Oh no, who has died tonight?" It briefly crossed his mind that maybe this
was some sort of "pay back" for some of the wrongs he’d done in his life.
Then he noticed the trooper was a girl and she smiled and held out her hand
and at the same time he saw a tear run down her cheek. She said, "I’m sure you
don’t remember me, but God bless you. I’m Trooper Sue McKay."
I have to admit that I got emotional when I heard that story as all of us who
spent a career in law enforcement can relate to a lot of tragedies, especially
while working on holidays. But, the reason I chose to use this story is to use
it as sort of a parable. To lay it alongside our lives, so to speak.
In all aspects of life as Christians, we strive to keep ourselves right with
God and to influence those we live with and around to want to also be right with
God. And we know that, at some point it all comes to an end, just like the
ending of the year. It wasn’t all good and it wasn’t all bad, but we got through
it with a lot of help from our brethren and friends. And, we look forward to the
coming year, should the Lord be willing to grant it to us, and to still having
our brethren and friends there to help us.
Then when our final "years end" comes and we’ve been "faithful unto
death" (Rev. 2:10) we’ll look forward to the coming "life" where we’ll
rejoin those departed loved ones again. And, we’ll meet those who we’ve
influenced along our journey of life to also want to be on the "right
hand" of God.
And, this is a life that has no ending, no accidents or bad things to deal
with. No sickness, no danger and especially, no death notifications having to be
made. That life will be in a place we simply call "heaven."
Ron Covey
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