the best stuff lasts

what kind of things filled up the events of your life today? what character marks you as you go about that 'filled-up' life and influence the people around you in life?

if you're normal, your life is probably full of things that aren't all that important and your character needs some attention from within the process....

i spent a couple hours last week saying 'goodbye for now' to a friend who is looking at the last days of her life here on earth. what a blessing it was for us - to share a moment with a friend in the trials of watching life on earth escape from her possession... and what amazed me was the beauty of her present clarity in life.

people who are 'dying' tend to know a lot about priorities - there's not much time, so they make the most of it.

Crystal and i cried and laughed and wept with our sister, and were overjoyed at her clarity about God's goodness and grace to us as people - poor, rebellious people who spend so much of our lives defying God and making ourselves too busy for Him.

as our friend's body and health wastes away even now, she is left with nothing but the grace of God, loving forgiveness and repentance in her relationships with her family and friends, and an anticipation of seeing her Savior.

with our friend, as her health fades, the best stuff has lasted. as all else fades, the gold and silver of her character and God's work in her life are shining brightly. i can only pray that as my life gets examined in the tests of today and the future that there will be gold and silver there to shine through, that God will have refined in me in His grace.