✝ Daily Encouragement (11/19/24) "Our Time Of Departure"

Published: Tue, 11/19/24

Updated: Tue, 11/19/24

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Tuesday, November 19, 2024

White Cliffs of Conoy
Sunset over the Susquehanna River on the White Cliffs of Conoy along the Northwest Lancaster County River Trail. These cliffs are actually industrial waste from a limestone processing plant dating back to the mid-1800s.
Click on photo to enlarge

"Our Time Of Departure"

Note: This week's daily encouragement messages (as well as the last two messages from last week) are from a study prepared for our Crossroads Adult Bible Fellowship class this last Sunday based on teaching from 2 Timothy 4:1-8.

Message summary: Life's greatest transition, the time of our departure will come for us all. Are you prepared? Each of us is scheduled for a future departure. Though we don't know the time of our departure we can have an assurance of where we will arrive.

Listen to our message on your audio player.

"The time has come for my departure" (2 Timothy 4:6).

We are a moment, You are forever
Lord of the ages, God before time
We are a vapor, You are eternal
Love everlasting, reigning on high

Departure screen at airportA common sight in airports is the constantly changing departure/arrival digital displays. If you are going somewhere you tend to check the departures. If you are waiting for someone you check the arrivals.

Imagine if we had access to such information for human departures, especially our own. That's a "flight" where we may welcome the "delayed" designation, depending on the circumstances, of course!

Destination Name Time



If such a site were available it would be the most visited site on the web. Practically everyone would have it bookmarked. What if the online departure board not only stated the time of departure but the destination as well, along with the person's name! We would be interested not only in our own destination and departure but that of others as well, for good reason!

In reality each of us has a future departure scheduled, although we don't know when, we can have an assurance of where. Second Timothy is the final book we have from the Apostle Paul. He resolutely acknowledged that the time had come for his departure (death). I sense such powerful resignation in these words as he went on to say; "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith". (We will consider each of these phrases in the next three messages.)

Most live their life giving little to no thought toward their imminent departure. We are conditioned to live for the "now".  But consider that your life is really but a "mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" (James 4:14). Consider the temporariness of life with this verse: "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall" (1 Peter 1:24).

Transitions are an inevitable part of life. They happen to everybody at one time or another and in one way or another. We do well to accept it. In 2 Timothy the Apostle Paul is writing his final words.  He recognized that life's greatest and final transition, death, was imminent.

Bible scholars believe his martyrdom came shortly after writing this epistle. Although deeply hurt by the falling away of one close associate (Demas), he is confident in the enduring friendship of at least three others (Timothy, Luke and Mark). And most of all he's confident in the Lord's presence and help in his hour of need (2 Timothy 4:17,18).

Some of you, like Paul, know the time is at hand for your departure from this earth. How do you make it through this transition? Like Paul, by having an assurance of God's love and also the love and support of dear people who are there for you. We hope and pray that you have both!

The greatest transition, the time of our departure will come for all. Are you prepared?


Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13


Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Praying manDaily prayer:   Faithful Father, we are a moment; You are forever;  Lord of the ages, God before time. We are a vapor, but You are eternal, love everlasting reigning on high. We are like grass and our glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but Your word lasts for all eternity. Help us to prepare our souls not just for living here and now, but for eternity as well, when our mortal flesh will give way to immortality and we will join the angels choirs with all the redeemed singing, "Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Glory, praise, honor and blessing be unto Your name!" Amen.

Prayer inspired by lyrics of the song, "Be Unto Your Name"

Additional departure memory. My (Stephen) dad died in 1998. After he died I took my my brother to the KC airport where he flew back from Kansas City to eastern Pennsylvania where he pastored at that time. TheTWA flight he was scheduled for was canceled so they put him on a Continental. This required going to a completely different terminal at the KC airport where my brother and I talked and had a cup of coffee. I bid him farewell and was walking through the terminal to catch a shuttle bus when I ran in to someone very special. I committed my life to Jesus in a meeting in Kansas City Missouri on a hot Sunday evening in August of 1971. The preacher that night was Lowell Lundstrom. Now nearly 27 years later I "by chance" ran into him at the KC airport. (He's not from the KC area, but was connecting to Minneapolis.) After telling him my story, he was thrilled to hear of a convert who had stayed the course, so perhaps I was a blessing to him as well. We walked back to my brother for a few minutes and he shared words of comfort with us regarding the passing of our father. His illustration was helpful and appropriate as he shared how my Dad took an earlier departure.  Isn't that an interesting perspective? After a few minutes of fellowship his flight boarded and our brief "chance encounter" ended. That was the last time I  ever saw him and he too is now with the Lord.

This brings to mind another airport chance encounter when my dad was still living but in need. I lived in New England at the time and had flown from Boston to KC connecting through Dallas, a huge very spread out airport. Getting off the plane I saw Dave Simpson, my best friend from 1st grade, who was traveling to Florida for business. We visited for a few minutes and had a pizza together. Dave is my longest term friend I have stayed connected with in life. He had his 70th birthday yesterday so I texted him and identified him by his childhood phone number, which I still have memorized. He texted back identifying me by my childhood phone number!


Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

"Be Unto Your Name"   Listen on YouTube  Travis Cottrell singing with Angela Cruz. This song will stir your heart and bless your soul.

"Hello After Goodbye"  Listen on YouTube  Legacy Five

"All My Tears"   Listen on YouTube  Selah  

Deer along river trail
The warmer days are diminishing in our region of the world for the fall/winter season but yesterday I had a pleasant bike ride along the Susquehanna River late in the afternoon just before sunset. This small deer did not seem to bothered by the appearance of bikers and walkers along the trail.

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