Printfriendly

Sunday, November 18, 2012

We Are All Expatriates

I was just reading the Wikipedia bio of the writer known as Paul Bowles (who shared his surname with my maternal grandparents). He was described as an "expatriate". Reading the definition of that term reminds me of a Larry Norman song, "Only Visiting This Planet", in which Larry sang, "This world is not my home. I'm just visiting this planet."

Larry died in 2008, at the age of 60 (four years older than my current age).

Life is short. I always knew, when I heard evangelists talking about this fact, that they were right. But somehow, the reality of the situation seemed remote to me when I was still a teenager. Now, after two strokes in as many years, not so much.

Nothing is guaranteed in terms of longevity; and indeed, it's true that no one gets out of this world alive. So don't base your hope on the incredibly, incredibly unlikely idea that modern science might one day find a cure for death. Put your faith in the only one to ever conquer death: Jesus Christ.

No comments: