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"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven", "a time to be born, and a time to die", "a time to keep, and a time to cast away" (Ecclesiastes 3:1,2,6).

When we first got married in May of 1976 during our first winter we used a "Warm Morning" wood stove to heat the little parsonage we lived in out in a rural area near Fair Grove MO 17 miles northeast of Springfield where we went to college. That warm fire sure provided some lasting memories as I had to cut the firewood and the winter of 76/77 was very cold with some severe ice and snowstorms similar to what we had when we lived in northern PA. We newlyweds sure enjoyed that warm fire and Brooksyne often cooked ham and pinto beans from scratch to finish on that hot stove top!

Through the years since we've heated with natural gas and fuel oil.

When we moved here in April 2002 our house had a coal stove, a type of heat we had never used before. So I learned how to use it and f or the last 23 years we have used anthracite coal as a primary means of heating our home. Especially on a cold windy day like we are having right now we have enjoyed "nestling" together in our family room next to our coal stove with a warm fire.

Heating with coal has worked well for us but is rather labor intensive, requiring bringing in a heavy bucket or two of coal each morning and emptying an ash pan a time or two each day. I am realistically projecting this getting harder and harder as I age (Brooksyne will have no problem acknowledging it's a man's work and she has no interest in doing the chore, though she has done so when I've been laid up in the hospital, etc.).

So we have decided this 23rd season of heating with coal is over for us and it's "time to cast away". This morning the fire in the stove died out for the final time in our home and the stove will be relocated to another home, which the wife described as a "drafty old farmhouse". It's an old-order (horse and buggy) Mennonite farm family in the eastern part of Lancaster County. So we hope it will be a blessing to them for many years.

Brooksyne is having some "withdrawal" emotions (if that's what you call it) giving up the stove where she often stands with her back against the hot stove front, too hot for me but her favorite place in the winter months! For many years she has sat beside the stove for her devotions in the winter months.

Since we have lived here we've had a heat pump installed as well as a mini split system and believe they will adequately heat our home although we project that on very cold and windy days (which we have a lot of these days) our lower level family room will not be that pleasant toasty warm we have enjoyed for so many years.

I've also found myself a bit emotional at this  season of life, perhaps a smaller version of what people feel like when it's time to sell their home and downsize or even harder is their need to move into a senior living facility. But this "time to cast away" is a reminder of the inevitable progression of aging, a feature God designed into all living things. For each of us there is "a time to be born, and a time to die" (Ecclesiastes 3:2).

It's healthy and wise to acknowledge that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

God’s Word warns us to be ready for death and informs us how to be prepared. We often react to warnings. They can sure be annoying and disrupt our plans! God has warned us and many find His warnings to be an irritant to their way of life so they simply ignore them. God’s Word has told us that we will die and that’s something we can observe throughout all humanity. God’s Word also tells us that we will face judgment. Many give little to no thought or preparation to this judgment, but God’s Word is clear and true.

Our faith is expressed in either a belief that there is an after-life upon one's death and an accounting to God or a belief that there is not. Both views require faith.  A verse we do well to memorize gives needed perspective in our temporal existence here on life's journey, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment". Because we believe there is an after-life we live in accordance to that belief. We choose to store up our greatest treasures in heaven where moth and rust, deterioration and breakage cannot devalue our eternal treasures.

Are you ready to meet God at your death? Have you received Jesus Christ as your Savior? Many have varied opinions about what the future on this side will bring. But one thing is certain: we will die and we must be prepared to meet God and our eternal future. Prepare your heart today.

Be encouraged today! Hebrews 3:13

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