"To Live is Christ..."

Yesterday I wrapped up 35 years worth of ministry and tearfully said ‘goodbye’.  Today I’m resting in a Manila hotel room, with Martha and Philip in another room nearby.  Tomorrow we fly to Texas. 

Three weeks ago I began feeling some cancer symptoms that told me it was time for me to return to the U.S.  With all the Virus travel restrictions, it was difficult for us to get a flight from Iloilo City to Manila, but yesterday we were finally successful.  I’m very grateful to the Lord for giving me these past 8 months to reconnect with my dear Filipino friends, to do some ministry, and finally to share with them the joy I have in knowing that soon I will be with the Lord.

Now, how soon I don’t know.  It’s been 5 months since I’ve had my last scan, so I don’t know how far the cancer has progressed, although I can feel that it is progressing.  I’ve heard cancer stories of a person feeling fine one week then gone the next.  Others linger for many months.  While I would relish more quality time with my kids and grandkids, I believe God ordained the day of my departure before I was born (Psalm 139:16), and I’m content to let it be.

A slide show of faces drift across my mind of Filipino people whom I have been privileged to know and work with.  Some have become evangelists.  Some are now leaders in their church.  Some have started new churches.  Some have become missionaries in other lands.  And some continue to serve the Lord in their own ways.  As I look back, I can’t think of anything I would have rather done with my life than to see God’s kingdom grow in this obscure part of the globe among a people the world hardly notices.  The rewards for me have been immeasurable.

My email inbox, my cell phone, and my mind are filled with overly kind words many of you have communicated to me these past weeks.  To you I say, “Thank you for welcoming me into your hearts and for giving me the honor of working with such wonderful people.  I eagerly look forward to our reunion at the heavenly banquet table.  All the good we have seen we immediately point heavenward and give all credit to the mighty Grace Giver who ordained this ‘good’ from long ago (Ephesians 2:10), that His power, His mercy, and His glory might be made known among us who know Him well (Romans 9:23).

As I turn my focus now to the time I have left, I have a few little family projects I would like to do, if the Lord permits.  I will stay with David, Andrea, and my grandkids for several days until I can figure out where to stay longer term.  But most of all I want to continue my sweet fellowship with the Lord who continues to flood my soul with eager anticipation of what is to come.  How I wish everyone could experience the joy I have in echoing the words of Paul, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”