Some More Spurgeon Treasures!

Most Spurgeon fans would kill to get the books I just received as a gift. My grandfather is clearing out his attic and found Spurgeon's Autobiography in 4 volumes. I have a hard time believing that they could be as old as the title page says. They are all late 1890's!

You've got to feel sorry for the person who gave the books to my grandfather as a gift. They've collected dust and I may be the first to read them. For such old books, they're in great condition! That is why I'm still dubious on their age. 

I like biographies and I like the originals, more so when they're about men like Charles Spurgeon! I just don't know when I'll get around to reading the books. Until I do, you can all be jealous of me…

Things We Don't Know About Our Grandparents

I just got home from another evening spent with my grandfather, Bill Kapitaniuk. It's amazing to hear some of his stories. He's so quiet about them He's a great storyteller, but very humble of what God has led him to do.

But having a Bible-smuggler for a Grandfather makes me aware of the lack of importance I place on the Bible. Papy was willing to suffer to bring a few Bibles into the communist block, I can hardly get out of bed. I will continue recording his stories and picking his brain to know what made my grandfather tick. I've lived around him for 22 years, but I realize today that I've only begun to make his acquaintance.

Why Did God Create Old-Age? (Part 3)

On what you can do when you are old and bed-ridden.

I think there is in each of us a fear of aging. We've all seen a loved one grow old, lose mental capacities or physical abilities. We've seen what's left of them as sickness and age makes a mess of their bodies. We know it to be an inevitable part of life and yet, we dread the day we'll have to fight the demon of age ourself.

For the active people out there, being bed-ridden is perhaps the most horrible thing you can imagine. Firstly because you love being up and about. Secondly, because "who then will continue on with the Lord's ministry?" Both my French grandparents are active Christians. They love Jesus and therefore have always been actively looking for ways to reach the lost and to bring hope to the hopeless. However, the drawback to this lovely mindset is that there is a dichotomy that is set up between the secular and the holy that is unbiblical. You cannot uphold that 'ministry' is more important than loving your wife and family (seeing that marriage is high in God's affections and that it is a man's responsibility before God to be a good father and husband). How can preaching be more ministry-like than putting your kids to bed? All things can and should be done to the glory of God.

So what are we to do when bed-ridden and old-age ravishing our body?

• Meditate on God (Psalm 63v6 & Psalm 4v4), considering His goodness.

• Tell the next generation about Jesus Christ (Psalm 71v18).

• Pray to God without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5v17). My grandmother is a remarkable example in this. I'm sometimes led to think that God has kept her alive because he loves to hear her pray with passion, like a 75-year old child of God.

• Rejoice always (1 Thessalonians 5v16) so that the world would know that you have a greater hope yet to come in heaven.

• Be a listening ear to those who come to find advice. Speak little, pray for wisdom and give great-God answers (Proverbs speaks of this everywhere).

Those were a few of the ideas that came to mind.

Photo: Doulos

Why did God Create Old-Age? (Part 2)

Counting your blessings is something we should all do. It is healthy,
normal (we're so blessed) and it glorifies God greatly as He is the
provider of all good thing.

I was taught a good lesson as I visited Mamie, my grandmother, at the
hospital. She loves reading the Bible, praying and talking, three
things I also enjoy doing. So that is what we were doing. As visiting
hours were coming to a close, we prayed with each other. Mamie, 75
years old, having known serious illness for most of my existence, was
praising God in prayer for His many blessings that know no end.
She meant it, I really believe she did. She thanked God for so many
things always returning to the greatest thing of them all: Grace in
the death of Jesus. Oh how my grandma prays! I was amazed that
despite all the pain, intense and nearly constant, she could praise
her God for all his goodness.

Why did God create old-age? Well, I don't know, but if in it, we're
able to take sickness, pain and handicap well, I think that it is a
glorifying thing. Is old-age a means for God to finish killing the
pride in our own hearts? What is it of old people that God likes?
That we recognize ourselves so dependant on Him? That we tend to
become childlike again? I don't know, but I want to learn now how to
count my blessings, so that even then, when all seems dark and pain
is so excruciatingly clear, I would praise God for Jesus. Oh let us
prepare ourselves to age well!

Photo by Dodo Egger

Why Did God Ever Create Old Age? (Part 1)

My grandmother isn't doing well. She's been through much suffering, in and out of sicknesses, with short lulls in the storms. She fell down last week(again), broke some bones and things have been going down hill from there. I took my bike and went to visit her today. I took my French Bible along so that I could read some passages to her. She loves that and it also calms her down to talk about God.

I read two passages. Psalm 63 first, followed by Philippians 1 & 2. I was reading the passage for several reasons: the great emphasis on joy in suffering, dying well and what Jesus himself went through for our sins on the cross. I nearly cried when I read Philippians 1v21, despite the fact that I was reading in part for that verse. It reads: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."

I'm a young man, in the prime of my youth. I take passages like these as beautiful and poignant credos. Here is a motto that a young Christian can build his life on. For it is true that while I live, I live to glorify Christ, but to die is greater still, because it means I'll be with Christ. As a young guy who's been saved by the grace of God, a verse like that is direction for my life. It gives purpose to my every breath.

I came to know Christ through the death of a 17 year-old, when I was only 17. As a young man, verses such as Philippians 1v21 serve as a reminder that my life is short and God may shorten it still by killing me today. But reading such a passage to your 75-year old grandmother who has gone through so much suffering, is a different matter altogether.

Who am I to read such a verse? Yes God speaks through His word, but to deliberately choose such a passage, I felt was wrong. But it led me to question my thoughts. Do I believe that death is gain? Yes, indeed I do, at least in theory. Do I believe that my grandmother knows, loves and is saved by Jesus? Yes, if there is anyone in this country saved, she is. So why do I find it distasteful to read a verse about dying?

Perhaps its because I know nothing of suffering and she's known nothing but suffering? It's true that I recognize myself unfit to speak to a woman like my grandmother about suffering. Yes I believe that a Christian is called to suffer well, but I've never been asked to do so. I've never known a sacrifice, never known a suffering!

Perhaps I feel guilty to be telling my grandmother that death is gain? First, this is awkward because I'm speaking about death. When you're talking with a guy your age, this is not a problem, but when you are in conversation with a dying woman, you cannot just blurt out: "You're dying!" Secondly, I feel it wrong to be reminding her of something I know nothing about. She's probably been near death more times than I've been alive years.

(Photo by Jiamin Choo, in PNG)