A Ninety-One year Old Cadillac

Don Miller is a ninety-one year old friend of mine. I’ve known him for his many years of teaching prayer and living a prayer life-style. As the occupant of the Chair of Prayer and Spiritual Formation at Southwestern Baptist Seminary, I was responsible for the Don & Libby Miller Prayer Room. Don prayed with me and for me, on many occasions. He has recently had some heart-related issues and his son Gary (also my good friend) shared the words of the cardiologist to his Dad: “You are like a Cadillac with 400,000 miles on it. You have taken a lot of hits, but still on the road. We can clean you up, and polish you up, but we can’t make you like new. You have some miles left. We all know death is coming, but go ahead and order the Michelin tires.” What a great perspective! My own father, who died of cancer at the age of 84, was still preaching within a month of his death. Caleb’s life illustrates for us that there is no retirement plan in doing the Lord’s work. At the age of eighty-five (years past normal “retirement”), Caleb returned to the borders of what would be the land of God’s people. When the Lord offered him a challenge in his advanced years, Caleb gladly accepted it (Joshua 14:10-12). Join me this week in giving thanks for those who set the pace for us and have gone on to glory, and for the older models that are still among us.

Pray with me for the following global concerns:
• Pray for Ron who has an infection in the gall bladder and is facing surgery in Budapest.
• Pray for Justin and Amy as they move to Wuhan, China to assume new positions with the International Schools of China.
• Pray for Johnny as he recovers from cancer surgery in Vancouver.
• Pray for John and Natalie as they adjust to ministry in a new, but extremely troubled part of the world.