Invincible? Or ready to go? .......... Parables 665

April 18, 2000

Pete, a young twenties-something, wobbled home from a party. Missing a turn, he drove off the rural road but didn’t seem to notice. He kept driving until his pickup truck bounced off a barbed-wire fence. Not only drunk but determined, Pete put his truck in reverse, backed up and then took a run at the fence. The wires snapped. He went through, drove about a quarter mile across a pasture, then plummeted off a cliff into the Bow River.

The truck landed on its nose. At that spot, fortunately for Pete, the water was shallow. He crawled up to the top of the cab and slept until morning. Other than a torn shirt, he was unhurt. Pete thought he was invincible and this episode further convinced him. Others share Pete’s conviction; death cannot touch me. These daredevils might break bones by the dozens yet nothing stops their death-defying stunts.

These are not suicidal people, just “invincible” people. They say “other fools” make wrong turns with grave consequences but not themselves. Nothing will happen to them. “Invincibles” push limits yet they are not alone; most of us are just as determined to avoid death. We push it out of mind, refuse to set foot in a home for seniors, avoid hospitals, avoid even the word “death” as if that will make this experience go away. Of course, avoiding it doesn’t work. Everyone dies. Defiance cannot alter the fact. Death is inevitable. Rather than avoid it, we should plan for it.

Death visited our family over the Christmas holidays. My father, died three weeks short of his 91st birthday. It was not a surprise. Invincibility and delusion seldom hang around someone that age. He knew, and we knew, that his years were running out.

At the funeral, the speaker said a person does not have to be old or sick to die. It can happen to anyone. He reminded us of Jesus’ story of a rich man whose farm produced a bumper crop. He decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones so he could store his goods, then “eat, drink and be merry.” This man gave no thought to the future nor considered death. However, God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. . . .”

My Dad was a farmer too, but the resemblance ends there. Unlike the rich fool, Dad thought about the future and even about death. Early in life, he made a will and then kept it updated. In his early forties, he bought a burial plot and grave markers (a practical move considering that today the same package costs ten times what he paid for it).

Dad may have toyed with the idea of being invincible when he was young but as a mature man, he realized he was not. Rather than try to defy death or deny it, he planned for it, even considered life after death.

In 1986, he asked what a person had to do to please God. How can a person be ready for death and be fit for His presence? He was told the answer: “It is by grace you are saved through faith, and that is not from yourself, it is the gift of God — not of works. . . .” We cannot do anything to earn or deserve heaven. All we can do is believe in the promises of God.

Dad understood God’s grace in sending Jesus to die for his sins. He knew Jesus paid the penalty he deserved and that He offers eternal life to anyone who will humble themselves and trust His promises. Dad decided that salvation through faith is a good deal. He simply confessed his sin and asked Jesus to be his Savior, resting in His promise of forgiveness and eternal life.

Occasionally Dad said, “I wish the Lord would come and take me home.” Daredevils and invincibles cannot say that, only people who are ready to go.