Dripping Springs Weekly Bulletins

A Replay Of Your Senior English Literature Class Just what all of you have been hoping for – a chance to re-live your senior year in high school! And especially, your English Literature class.   Reading has always been an enjoyable exercise for me, and I still love to read. But about the only thing I recall from that Senior English class is my misery in trying to memorize that classic poem, Thanatopsis, written by 17-year-old William Cullen Bryant.   The title, Thanatopsis, is a word that means, “thinking about death.” That may have been my downfall.  Few 17-year-old boys were anxious to think or talk about death back then.    Now, many years later, and obviously much closer to that “event”, my appreciation for that poem has not flourished. It is still a subject I do not want to discuss, but it will always occupy a part of my thinking. And, having read our Bible, we know that one way of looking at life is the importance of preparing for death.    In many ways, Christians are in a position whereby we can be more prepared to face that inevitable event. On more than one occasion we read of the apostle Paul speaking or writing on his readiness for the end of life. In fact, he was informed that his “departure” was “at hand,” 2 Timothy 4:6.    This was not the first time Paul contemplated what lay ahead for him. Speaking of his human body in 2 Corinthians 5:4, he wrote the following: “For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.”   He was especially eager to give up his mortal human body and take on his heavenly body, so that “mortality” could be “swallowed up of life.” He was ready to give up this old “tabernacle” with all its frailties and its pain. He anticipated a new body, one that by its nature was eternal. Afraid of death? Paul? Not so you could notice – he knew something better awaited him.   If you read the most familiar segment of Thanatopsis you will quickly see that we are told to live this life, but also live in preparation for death and what life awaits us afterward. Bryant merely says in his own way that man must be willing to look death in the eye and not be afraid. Of course, that requires our preparation!    Note the beginning words of that work: “So Live…” If death is one of those inevitable events awaiting us all, Hebrews 9:27, and it is, why do we not prepare for it? One reason is, as we have already stated, we don’t want to think about death. But that way of thinking is not rational. Ignoring death will not make it go away, for it is an integral part of life itself. Unless the Lord returns while we are still living we will all encounter death, like it or not.    Bryant approaches the issue correctly, beginning his work with the phrase, “So live that…” This pre-supposes that how one lives their life will determine how he/she dies – and their destination thereafter. How does a person get “ready” for that judgment day about which we so often sing? In Jesus’ parable of the foolish young maidens, Matthew 25, they were rebuked for not being ready for the wedding feast. “Ready”? Paul was truly ready because he could honestly say,  “I have fought a good fight, I have finishedmycourse, I have kept the faith.”   Is that not what the Bible emphasizes throughout, that heaven and hell are in the balance, and man’s destiny is in his own hands. Bryant was right in this point, we must “so live,” that when judgment comes, we can be ready.    English Lit—perhaps I should have paid more attention. Carl Garner

SO LIVE, THAT WHEN THY SUMMONS COMES TO JOIN THE INNUMERABLE CARAVAN, WHICH MOVES TO THAT MYSTERIOUS REALM, WHERE EACH SHALL TAKE HIS CHAMBER IN THE SILENT HALLS OF DEATH, THOU GO NOT, LIKE A QUARRY-SLAVE AT NIGHT, SCOURGED TO HIS DUNGEON, BUT, SUSTAINED AND SOOTHED BY AN UNFALTERING TRUST, APPROACH THY GRAVE LIKE ONE WHO WRAPS THE DRAPERY OF HIS COUCH ABOUT HIM, AND LIES DOWN TO PLEASANT DREAMS.

First Things First On September 11 of 2009, my son Will’s plane touched down in Kuwait, and from there he traveled to Iraq to begin a year-long deployment. His mission is to assist in transitioning U.S. bases to Iraqi control. About a month after he left, I was in my office when a strange number popped up on my cell phone indicating an incoming call. When I answered, I was thrilled to hear my baby boy’s voice. It was his first call from Iraq. He sounded upbeat, which was a relief because the pictures he had emailed showed he had lost 10 to 15 pounds since arriving in Baghdad. We talked about army food and college football. He told me that they had destroyed a huge weapons cache nearly the size of a football field, and the thankful townspeople had hosted a celebration for the soldiers. It made my heart glad to hear that the chaplain asked him to teach a Bible class and that he was conducting regular devotionals. As the conversation drew to a close, a funny noise came over the line, and when I called Will’s name, he was no longer there. I realized the call had dropped (the result of a sandstorm), so I called my wife, Lisa, and filled her in on all the news. After we were done, I put my Blackberry away and sat down to my laptop. I wanted to get back to work, but I was feeling bothered. Something was left unsaid, and I could not get back to work until it was corrected. I opened Outlook and composed a quick email to Will. It said: We got cut off before I could say “I love you.” I will have to start there next time. Love, Pop As I pushed the send button and hurled the message over sod, sand, and sea, I began to wonder how many times people never get around to saying the things that really matter. We talk about weather and sports and movies and restaurants and jobs and clothes and a thousand other things. Everything except what matters most. Then one day, our loved one is gone, and we ache for an opportunity to say what we meant to say. Next time you are speaking with someone special, before the conversation gets sidetracked into mundane things, why not go ahead and say “I love you” right up front. Then if you get cut off or your mind wanders and something is left unspoken, you have already said the most important thing (Matthew 22:37-39). Your loving words will also set the right tone for the exchange about to take place. By putting love first in your conversations, you will experience more love in your life. Not a bad return for such a small habit. Aubrey Johnson (Used by permission of The Gospel Advocate)