If the above quote means nothing to you, it means you
missed one of the great classic movies, just a great family movie. The movie is called “The Sandlot”. It’s about
the misadventures of a bunch of adolescent, coming of age, boys, playing
baseball everyday, never keeping score in the summer of 62, a simpler time. One of these kids is Squints Palledorous. Squints is a scrawny little kid with coke
bottle Buddy Holly glasses. There are
many memorial scenes in the movie; but two stand out. One is when Squints fakes drowning at the
city swimming pool so he can trick the older teenage blonde life guard to
perform mouth to mouth resuscitation on him. As she is performing mouth to
mouth, he hugs her around the neck and plants a big kiss. They all get banned
from the pool for the rest of the summer.
At the end of the movie we find out Squints married the life guard,
Wendy Peffercorn and they had nine kids.
The other scene is Squints telling the overblown story about a local
hermit and his dog, the beast. As
Squints relates the story “the beast” that ate up kids. His grandpa, the police chief, ordered “the
beast” to be chained up the rest of his life, “For-ev-ver” as Squints says
slowly . If you have never seen it, buy
it, rent it, or stream it. It is one you
will watch several times. It will bring
back memories of growing up in simpler time.
Why do I bring this up? Well, as I was thinking about
the movie and the beast being chained up forever, I was reminded of a couple
things. First of all the word forever,
especially the way Squints said it.
Slowly and dragging it out and repeating it. Forever is eternity. And then strangely while thinking about eternity, I
thought of the beasts and dragon in Revelations 13. The first beast is the anti-christ. The second beast is the false prophet that caused
as many who would to worhip the first beast.
Finally the dragon is the the devil in revelation, who is chained up for a thousand years and later
thrown into the lake of fire for eternity, FOREVER.
All this caused me to think about death. I realize that I have gone from a funny movie
to a subject we don’t like to think about, much less talk about. BUT, as we come to the end of the year and as
we get older we think about death more, about loved ones whom we’ve lost. We all were born to die. Everything, plants, animals, and man, once we
experience birth, life, it is promised that we will experience death. We are told in scripture: “it is appointed unto men once to die, after this the judgment”. We often pretend that if we ignore it, death will
go away; sort of like when someone cuts in front of you and does not look at
you, it’s not really happening. As we
get older, we see death more often. Death of our piers and parents is
inevitable. When it is the death of someone we know who has
has accepted Christ as Savior, we have sadness but peace. When it is the death of someone who has not
accepted Christ as Savior, it is like there is a big elephant in the room’ and,
if we don’t acknowledge it, it does not seem so bad. These are the funerals that I dread to
attend.
Some of you are thinking right now. Wow! I never saw that coming! From “Sandlot” to death. Well even the “Sandlot” came to an end. Summer of 62 ended. Some kids moved away. It never was the same again.
Sort of like when you head to your car after the
lunch after the funeral. Carrying a
memorial bouquet, and left over food, you pack up the car. Say thanks to the people who came to share
your grief. Shake the hand of the
funeral personal. You’ve cried. You’ve shared memories! Depending on whether the loved one knew
Christ, you find solace and comfort, either in your relationship with your
Savior or in the memories of the past. If you know Christ as your Savior, you
find strength and peace in Him. You hug
your kids a little tighter! You kiss and
hold your wife or husband a little longer. Life will never be the same. The people that were at that funeral will
never all be together again. BUT, life
goes on! A new normal begins. We don’t get a “do over”. But most will get one more day or week or
year. Don’t waste it on things. Don’t ignore the elephant in the room. Every time there is a baby born, another
death becomes inevitable
There is a “For-Ev-ER”. It’s not in a sandlot. It’s called heaven or hell! So as we get ready for Christmas and wrapping
up another year, I encourage you about the people you will hug, hold and kiss
this season. When you, they, or me get
to “FOREVER”; will we greet each other around the throne of GOD. The best Christmas gift you can give is to
share Christ with those you hold dear.
No matter how uncomfortable it may be, share the hope that you have in knowing
Christ as your Savior and is available to them!
It will be more uncomfortable when you attend their funeral. Why is it so hard to share Christ with
friends and family? Are we afraid of
rejection? Being laughed at? Jesus
experienced rejection. He said,” A prophet is not without honor, save in
his own country, and in his own house”. You say, “I’m not a
prophet and I am not the Son of God. WRONG,
a prophet was one who proclaimed God’s Word to the people. When you share Christ with others, you are
doing the work of a prophet. You also
are a child, an adapted child of God. We
are told in Romans that we “are
the children
of God: And if children,
then heirs;
heirs
of God, and joint-heirs
with Christ”. AND read farther, “if so be
that we suffer with
him, that
we may be also
glorified together
. For I
reckon
that
the sufferings
of this present
time
are not worthy
to be compared with
the glory
which shall
be revealed
in us. We are entitled to the same inheritance
as Christ, including the persecution. So
expect it; but, JUST DO IT! You will not
regret it.
If you should die tonight, do you know where you
will spend FOREVER!
For God
loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who
believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
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