Tom Elliff | Living in the Word

Avery Willis: Finishing the Course

Early Friday morning, July 30, 2010, Avery Willis stepped from this world and into the waiting embrace of Jesus. His death was actually no surprise to his friends and family. Nor was it a surprise to his Master who had already written the millisecond of Avery’s departure in His book even before Avery’s earthly conception. As a doctor friend of mine said recently, “No one, not even the finest physician, can prolong a man’s life one second beyond what God has written.” “All we can do,” he continued, “is assist in making his journey comfortable.”

Those of you who know me well, know that Avery’s life has had a profound impact on my own. We share the same birthday, although he had a ten year edge on me, and for over thirty years, wherever in the world we were, we contacted each other on that date, February 21. But the impact of Avery’s death has been no less significant. In his death, I have witnessed what it means to “finish the course” (2 Tim 4: 7).

Let me explain. Keep Reading…

When a Godly Person Dies

In recent weeks several close friends of ours seem to have entered that phase of life which presents them with their last opportunity for stewardship, the stewardship of death. Should that be the case, there will come the inevitable questions regarding the death of “good people.” After all, the reasoning goes, there are so many “bad people” around, and it just seems unfair for those to die whose lives have touched us in such positive ways.

It does us good, I think, to turn to God’s Word for the answer to questions regarding life and death. After all, God is sovereign in these matters, and He is the One who determines the eternal destiny of us all. It is in God’s Word that we encounter this astounding declaration: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones” (Ps 116:15).

“How can this be?” we want to cry out. “How can it be precious for godly people to die? How can God look upon such an event and see great value in it?” Keep Reading…

The Power of Procrastination

In the back yard of my grandfather’s farm down in Bradley County, Arkansas, there was a large sweet-gum tree girdled by a rubber tire that had been removed from an early Ford, Model-T. When the tree was just a sapling, one of my uncles (who then lived on the farm) had carefully placed the tire around it as a means of protecting it from his careless brothers. But the tree grew, strong and healthy, until one day, my uncle found that its branches had spread wide and it was impossible to remove the tire. So he just left the tire there around the tree, an object of amusement.

Over the years, the “tired” sweet-gum tree became an object lesson in the power of procrastination. Quietly, as the tree steadily grew, what had been intended as protection became, instead, a subtle restriction. Since the tree was along the path leading out to the barns, the wagon shed, and the blacksmith shop, its situation was viewed frequently every day for dozens of years. I wonder how often someone had thought aloud, “I need to remove that tire from around the tree while it’s still possible.” Or perhaps my grandfather had said to one of the children, “When you head out to the barn this morning, see if you can take that tire from around that sweet-gum tree.” But the tree grew so slowly, and each day had it own set of demands until, one day, removing the tire by some other means than major surgery had become an impossibility. So there the tire remained like a collar around the tree, a picture of the power of procrastination.

Do you have anything in your life you intend on removing, or correcting…one of these days? Keep Reading…