| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “Resilience” Our Bible verse for today: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Be tough, stay strong, finish well.” Yesterday we buried my friend Tom. He’s the one I told you about in a previous devotional, the one who had a stroke as a young man. He lived almost his entire adult life with serious disabilities, but he never gave-in and he never gave-up. Tom was tough, he was strong, and he finished well. For the funeral message I used Joshua 14:10-11, “Here I am today, eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. My strength for battle and for daily tasks is now as it was then.” I’ve never used that passage for a funeral message before and on the surface, it doesn’t really seem to fit Tom. Tom was not eighty-five, he was fifty-nine. And he wasn’t as strong in his later years as he was in his younger years, as Caleb claimed to be in that passage. But what Tom did have in common with Caleb was attitude. Caleb was feisty and determined and he refused to give-up. Tom was like that too. If we had to choose some character traits to describe Tom, it would be hard to come up with two better ones than feisty and determined (although stubborn would run a close third). We began the funeral by playing the theme song from the movie Rocky. You know the song, you can probably hear it in your head right now, the one with those trumpets blaring and the chorus singing “Gonna fly now … gonna fly now …” I’ve never heard that song used in a funeral before but it sure was appropriate for Tom. Rocky was a fighter and so was Tom. Rocky never gave-up and neither did Tom. When an opponent knocked Rocky down, Rocky got back up and came right back at him. When life knocked Tom down, he got right back up and kept coming back at it. Tom was tough and Tom was strong. He was a great example of what it looks like to live a resilient life, a flourishing life, despite hardships and challenges. He was an inspiration to the rest of us and I’m sure we’ll be telling Tom-stories for many years to come. We’re often inspired by the lives of others, and we learn from their examples. Tom Herring was a perfect example of what it means to be a resilient Christian. May the rest of us go and live likewise. Be tough, stay strong, and finish well. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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