End of the Line …

There were two events recently that marked the end of the line.

The first was a fire that destroyed the historic sanctuary of First Baptist Church, Dallas. The sanctuary was built in 1890. Southern Baptist greats like George Truett, W.A. Criswell, Billy Graham, and a host of others had preached in that historic place.

George Truett, now almost forgotten, is a hero of mine. He eloquently spoke for the separation of church and state, defended the work of Southern Baptists when the convention was under attack, and was the preeminent preacher of the early 20th century.

During one trip to Dallas, I was privileged to stand behind that historic pulpit, literally in the footprints of Truett. I thought about all that God had done in that space and the power of God’s word proclaimed for over a hundred years. It was a humbling moment.

Now that space is gone. A four-alarm blaze resulted in structural failure. The roof collapsed and now the sanctuary, the stained glass, and the church history room – all gone.

Of course, buildings are simply tools to be used in ministry. Still, there is sadness that this great space reached the end of the line. The church must be thinking, “What do we do now?”

The other event, of course, was President Biden’s announcement that he is bowing out of the 2024 Presidential race. It is easy to forget that Joe Biden was once the youngest member of the Senate. His poor performance in the June debate caused his supporters to step back, his donors to withhold funds, and his poll numbers to plummet.

I cannot imagine what it is like to be the most powerful man in the world and feel abandoned by those you trusted. J.B. West, former chief usher at the White House, said all the first families hate to leave. Giving up the perks of power is hard. After spending most of his life in politics, it is now the end of the line for President Biden. I am sure he must be thinking, “What do I do now?”

Eventually, all of us face the end of the line. Something we love is destroyed. A marriage ends. Retirement beckons. You go to a family reunion and find you are the oldest one there. The diagnosis is cancer, and you are told you have months.

Most of us are not prepared for the end of the line. Almost 70% of Americans die without a will. Few people leave their family instructions about their funeral or the distribution of their possessions.

Many people do not prepare for retirement. I was at a restaurant not too long ago and my waitress was obviously in the senior citizen category. I made some comment saying she needed to retire, and she said, “I cannot afford to. I never thought I would be waiting tables at 74, but you do what you got to do.”

I remember a family back home who had canceled their homeowner’s insurance to save money. Within a year, their house burned to the ground. I remember the man saying, “I never thought this would happen to us.”

Jesus told us there would be an end. There would be signs, he said, but the end would come suddenly. He made it clear “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”  Never be fooled by someone who tells you they know the secret time of Jesus’ return. If the Father has not told Jesus, I doubt he will tell any of us.

Jesus goes on to say, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”  At the very least, this means we need to prepare for the end of the line.

I have stood beside more than one bedside to hear a man, or a woman say, “I know everyone dies preacher. I just did not think it would happen to me.”  Isn’t it funny how the one thing that should not be a surprise is a surprise to many?

You have heard “All good things come to an end.”  The original quote is from Geoffrey Chaucer, in 1374 who wrote: “All things come to an end.”  The word “good” was added centuries later. Chaucer understood that one day both good and bad will end. One day, whether by death or by the coming of Jesus, everything we know will end. Are you ready for the end of the line?

This is the great hope of Jesus, the great hope of the resurrection. The end of the line for us does not have to be destruction or riding off into the sunset. For Jesus followers, the end of the line is the beginning of a whole new chapter. And the title of that chapter is “Heaven.”