“Hug your loved ones – everything can change in an instant.” Those were the closing words of an email that told of a longtime friend who had entered eternity. Rev. Theodore E. Allwardt was nearly a decade older than I, but we became friends after realizing we’d both served as pastor at two North Dakota churches.
Pastor Allwardt was a tall, quiet bible scholar who graduated from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and did advanced studies at the German University of Tuebingen. He faithfully served parishes in North Dakota, New Mexico and Oregon, and wrote two fine daily devotionals, Rattlesnakes and Rainbows, and More Rainbows than Rattlesnakes, the imagery coming from many hikes during his ministry years, especially in New Mexico. He wrote and preached well, and was a good husband and father. If I would choose one word to describe him, it would be “gentleman.”
His son Tim wrote, “Hug your loved ones – everything can change in an instant.” That surely is true. One instant they are small, cuddly and fascinated by life, the next they are older, prouder, even cynical. One instant they are there, alive, smiling, listening, and the next they are gone forever. We believe our souls will rest with the Lord until resurrection, but how quickly the human life goes away on this earth.
Moses wrote in Psalm 90, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty, yet their span is but toil and trouble. They are soon gone, and we fly away… So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
These days it’s so easy to spend our time with the meaningless: toys, sports, getting and spending, seeking we aren’t sure what. Life crowds out the realization that Jesus has all that we need. His mercy covers all our sins. His grace protects us from eternal dangers and provides us all our daily needs.
If you can’t hug your loved ones, reach out to them or speak with them, because…
Everything can change in an instant.
Rev. Bob Tasler, www.bobtasler.com
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