Brother Tony's Words
My brother Tony is a preacher -- just to warn you! These are some words he sent out to a colleague:
"My thoughts and prayers are with you as you develop a
sermon on 'the resurrection of the body.' The wonder and
significance of our Christian belief in and God’s promise of the resurrection
of the body became very real to me a couple of days ago while visiting my
father. My brother, Marlin, and my sons, Aaron and Andy, and I were with Dad
and Mom in their apartment. We were looking at old photo albums. As
I sat with an album on my lap containing pictures of my father as a young man,
I looked up to see my father as an old man—my father in his last
days. Of course, there was a striking difference between the young man
and the old. The young Peter Vis with his arm around the woman who would
soon be his bride, a handsome couple they were. Sometime in the not so
distant future we will lay to rest the body of the old Peter Vis, and over time
his body will decay—dust to dust, ashes to ashes. It happened to
his father before him and will happen to his sons after him.
"But I believe 'in the resurrection of the body.'
My comfort and my hope is in this belief. One day—the day when
Christ returns—'the dead in Christ will rise.' (1
Thessalonians 4:17) And on that day I will see my father, not the old Dad
whose hands now shake from the affects of Parkinson’s Disease … not
the old Dad whose body is now racked with pain from the cancer that is slowly
taking over his body… no, not the old Dad, but I will see the 'young'
Dad whose body will be alive and vital once again … and more alive and
more vital than ever before—glorified, risen like Jesus, risen with
Jesus, risen because of Jesus. I will see him and recognize him
and know him. Oh, today, how I long for that day. I
want to walk with my Dad, and he without the 'walker' that has been
his constant companion in these later years. And I want to run with my
Dad—side by side, I want to run with my Dad. And I will! Yes,
I will! I believe 'in the resurrection of the body.'
Thank you, God, for this hope that is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.
