A Third Date

I was heading home from a church service on Sunday and as I was driving along the country road I looked to my left and saw a graveyard. I wouldn’t even call it a cemetery because it was just a piece of land with probably 20 headstones on it. Well, that really piqued my interest and so I made a U-turn and went back and checked it out. (see photo above) 

The piece of land was up on a little bit of a hill but there was no buildings around it. Across the street was a barn covered in kudzu vines as well as a rundown home. I did not see a church or any building close by the graveyard. As I looked at the old headstones, I noticed that some indicated deaths as far back as 1812 and same as recent as 1947. On each of the headstones, there were two dates…date of birth and date of death 

I've often heard it said that we really need to be more intentional about the dash and not the two dates as we go through life. This is true but that discussion is for another post. Today, I want us to consider another date…the day our name will be said for the last time this side of heaven. Now that’s a sobering thought?

Until Jesus Christ comes back, I think there are some names that will never not be said – for good or for bad. Names like George Washington, Hitler, Desmond Tutu, Attila the Hun, Martin Luther, etc. But for most of us, there will be a day that our name will be uttered for the last time.  

Let’s live lives that cause our name to be reminded for generations not because we are so wonderful but because we were ordinary folks that did extraordinary things for our great God!