Check out this story which just appeared today from Reuters:Mourning man lies in own grave, and waits to die
PATNA, India (Reuters) - Hundreds of people are flocking to a remote village in eastern India to catch a glimpse of an old man who has spent six years lying inside his own grave waiting to die as he mourns for his wife, officials said.
Basanta Roy claims he is 103 and spends his day clearing weeds from the grave and lying in it. Belonging to a Hindu caste who bury their dead, Roy dug his grave close to his wife's after she died in the late 1990s.
"He cleans his grave every day and waits for his death, which seems to be eluding him," said Shyam Narayan Ram, a senior government official from Jharkhand state.
How sad this story is- a person literally waiting to die. Do you think Christians can "live" life in such a way?
A few passages of Scripture come immediately to my thoughts and help give proper perspective and encouragement when tempted to despair:
Psalm 34:8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it more abundantly.
John 15:11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
1 comment:
Quite the opposite story with Christ in your life! On mission trip 2003, Pastor Pavel Horev and I were asked to visit a lady named Tatyana. This faithful saint had been bed ridden for 2 years. She was a member of the small cell church in Kishinev, Moldova where Pastor Grigore visited her after every Lord’s Day Service.
He told her, “Tatyana, next week there will be an American Preacher at our church and if you would like, I know he and Pastor Pavel would come and pray with you?”
With unspeakable joy filling her heart, she received us into her tiny flat. This blessed visit was the high point of this entire mission.
Pastor Tony’s blog, describes a much different situation. A lost, selfishly grieving man, who was able to walk, take care of himself, just wasting away, waiting and wanting to die. What a foolish tragedy!
But HOPE only comes in knowing Jesus. Confidence stands when we can, and will, in full assurance, rest in Him! Lavish Peace is embracing His promises! No matter our condition, even as bad as things can sometimes be, when we know Christ, this life is the only HELL believers will ever have to endure.
Then there’s a Tatyana. The world would say, "What a pity! She has no hope, no promise for a better life, no confidence in even living. Her life was a living HELL! She should end it all!"
By those standards... it was. She had been on her back for over 2 years, couldn’t walk to the bathroom, unable to feed herself, even taking a bath was impossible! But was she waiting to die? Was she wasting to die?
Every Sunday Pastor Grigorie takes her the church prayer list. For hours on end Tatyana pours every once of fading strength in intercessory prayer. Constantly Praising the Lord for the gift of prayer. Never complaining…. Always believing, always hoping for others. Here was a life well lived!
The greatest privilege a Christian can enjoy in knowing “He will never leave us nor forsake us!” For I know the presence of the Lord was vibrantly manifested in one solitary life…Tatyana, the praying saint. The miracle that awaits her in glory, none of us are able to comprehended.
I will never forget what I learned from her that day. What a joy to share it.
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