Is Gordon Lightfoot Really 72?

My wife surprised me with tickets to the Gordon Lightfoot concert last Saturday night at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. We were both excited. Gordon's music has been part of soundtrack for our dating years and thirty-four year marriage. We were ready for a evening of great music. So, why did it surprise us that he had gotten older? Why were we stunned to hear that his voice in not nearly as silky smooth as it once was? Why did it surprise us that he could not hit the low tones like he did when we saw him thirty-plus years ago?

There has been a wave of deaths in our community recently. Not our members of our congregation, but relatives of our members, and members of our community and fellowship. Seems I've been in funeral homes and memorial services more than anywhere else lately.

The most recent is the passing of Jim Bill McInteer. As a preacher in the Nashville area for many, many years, Brother McInteer has been a breath of fresh air and a positive role model for preachers and christian leaders all over the world.

I remember as a very young and very inexperienced Youth/Associate minister in the mid-1970s picking Jim Bill up at the airport and transporting him to our building where he would speak to a larger group of teenagers. Those few short minutes I was with him in the car proved to be invaluable in my development as he made me feel like I was the greatest minister ever to wear the title. So affirming. So encouraging.

Years later I heard him delivered the eulogy for Clarence Daily's father. I've not heard a more eloquent and touching message before or since. He had an amazing way with words. When I saw him last I was impressed at the strength of his voice, and the clarity of his mind. I was also a bit stunned that he had aged.

I plan to attend his memorial service tomorrow. Last Saturday I did the service for a 67 year old man, and this coming Friday I'll do the same for an 80-year old wife, mother, and grandmother.

Thoughts of my own mortality have been heightened. I have done even more thinking on these matters than normal and brought one reality clearly into focus: Time is precious.

I've wasted too much time. I spend too much time piddling. There are things that need to be done. People I need to talk to. Words I need to share. Feelings I need to express. Love I need to share.

We've wasted too much time. While we have been arguing over petty issues of opinion and prejudices and preferences, people have been living and dying alone and without hope. People need Jesus, not our opinion. People need our Savior, not our judgments. People need God's Word, not trivia. It's time to get busy with what God has placed us here to do: tell the world about His Son.

Yes, as difficult as it is to accept Gordon Lightfoot is 72, Jim Bill McInteer is gone, and I'm not getting any younger. And, by the way, neither are you. It's time!