The Resurrection Of The Dead...Continued from page 8

One of my dear friends is Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie. Back in the mid 1980s, I had a long talk with him as he was convalescing from a life-threatening accident quite similar to the skiing accident I had in 1981. Lloyd had been studying in Scotland for several weeks. He had completed most of his work and had mailed it back to the States at the end of July. He had a couple of days to spend in reflection as he waited the arrival of his wife Mary Jane who was going to vacation with him. One rainy afternoon, he dressed appropriately for a long walk along the western coast near the town of Mallaig. He told me how the rain came down harder as he walked over fields, climbed over stone fences, and then walked along the ocean shore.

About two to two and a half miles from where he was staying he suddenly slipped and knocked his head on a rock. When he became conscious, he tried to get up only to discover that his left leg was dangling from just below the knee. It was getting colder and darker, and the rain was pouring harder. He dragged himself with every bit of human effort for two and a half hours, crawling on his good side, back over the stone fences and across the fields. He began to wonder if he could survive. Finally, three people, one a doctor, who were also out walking in the rain, heard his cry and came to his side. They found a little farm house from which they called for an ambulance. The ambulance wouldn't start. So they had to call to Fort Williams, an hour and a half away. Finally, Lloyd ended up in the hospital at Fort Williams. His leg was set. His wife joined him during the time of initial recuperation. Then they flew back to Los Angeles, only to discover that the leg had to be reconstructed, and he had suffered a number of embolisms of a potentially life-threatening nature.

Lloyd and I talked about his future, his priorities, the question about when he could get back into the pulpit, and how he would handle the months of recuperation. We had a lot to share in common.

But the reason I tell this story is to recount to you the faith and the trust of a brother in Christ who said, "It is apparent it was not God's time to take me." And I want to share with you the confidence and even expectancy of one who, as many of us have, looked at the spectre of death and seen that the sting has been removed because of Christ's death and resurrection.

Frankly, I will never in this life understand why some die early and some die late. Why are Lloyd Ogilvie and I still living and ministering when our dear mutual friends, Frank Harrington of Peachtree Presbyterian in Atlanta and Clayton Bell of Highland Park Presbyterian in Dallas, have been gone from this life for several years. Why has my daughter Suzanne, who died at age twenty-three, been gone for over fifteen years when all four of her grandparents lived well into their nineties. I don't understand. But I do understand that we can trust God for this life and the next. We can commit ourselves and our loved ones to His care. You and I are equipped with all the saints through the years to say along with the Apostle Paul, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain!"

Paul concludes this magnificent chapter with a "therefore." Let me simply read it in conclusion. "Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58).

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John A. Huffman, Jr. is Senior Pastor of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, CA.