Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Wednesday August 5, 2009

One of the inequities of life in my opinion is the vast gulf between the real and surreal as relates to what John Q. Public is willing to pay for reality or the bizarre. One of my very longtime friends has pastored the same church for 30 years in a more than tough situation. Money has not been an issue as he for all practicable purposes has been bi-vocational due to in my opinion a congregation that is without conscience in relation to the proper remuneration of said pastor.

One of our mutual friends passed on just this week. My faithful friend does not have the finances to attend the memorial service. The fellow pastor who entered the presence of the Lord will not have more than a handful at the wake. The papers, I scan 45 each morning, carry no notice of the faithful servant who has as the Indians say, "walked on."

Outstanding character is the word for these men. On any given night over 50 or more years they would be called to ICU at 2 or 3 AM to be with a dying saint and comfort the family. The little far off town where the expired pastor is to be buried will not be called upon to spend millions to provide security for the thousands of fans who will attend. My friend lived and died knowing who he was and what was expected of him. By this time next week he will still be gone and mostly forgotten. He was in the truest sense, real.

As I write this morose piece, I am faintly hearing Dianne Sawyer on Good Morning America still moping about the passing of a psycho drug/sex addicted rock star and the fight over the millions he left behind having wasted the bulk of his 50 years attempting to be everything he was not. Everything about the man was surreal, which is a nice word for bizarre. Everything about this man was false, except for one thing.

One thing? Yes sir, mam, one thing.

His pain was real beyond the imagination of most who watched his "life." Yet he knowing and willingly walked away from the ONE who could give him real life.

To reveal my age and what some call curmudgeon mind set, I was appalled as I saw an ad in a newspaper for a church group stating, "When you leave this Christian Concert you will feel as though you had been in a (the man’s name) festival." That the concert was "spiritual" I have no doubt. But could it be past time to state at least one more time that discerning Christians are to try the spirits to discover from which fountain they come?

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2009 Use with credit.

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