written by Stephan Joubert
I have the privilege to write a small column in a daily newspaper every Monday to Friday, entitled Good News. A while ago, I told the story of Ernie in my column. May I share it again here? Good American friends of mine involved Ernie in the youth ministry of their church. Ernie stayed involved there full steam until his death in his nineties. Ernie’s work at the youth ministry was to pack the dishwasher every Wednesday evening after they served a great feast to the younger ones.
One day Ernie told my friends that he asked the Lord the previous night to rather come fetch him. At this stage he was already deaf in both ears and he could no longer bear his deep longing for his late wife. But then he suddenly thought of all the young people that he served unnoticed and wondered who would pack and unpack the dishwasher after they spent time together on Wednesdays. Right there and then Ernie chose to carry on living with a new vigor. He did exactly that untill the end of his life. Ernie knew that once the race was over, Jesus would be waiting for him with the crown of righteousness in his hand (2 Timothy 4:7-8). That’s why he couldn’t stop living or stop running before the race was over.
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