Originally Posted on Facebook Oct. 10, 2018.
Hey folks, here's an update. I'm doing well. Thank you all for your prayers, concerns, and cards. Katie and I have been very blessed and humbled by the outpouring of love towards us. It is a great blessing to be in the body of Christ where we weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. Oftentimes, we find ourselves doing so simultaneously or successively. God's grace holds us together. I thank Him and you.
Hey folks, here's an update. I'm doing well. Thank you all for your prayers, concerns, and cards. Katie and I have been very blessed and humbled by the outpouring of love towards us. It is a great blessing to be in the body of Christ where we weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. Oftentimes, we find ourselves doing so simultaneously or successively. God's grace holds us together. I thank Him and you.
I owe a great debt of love to the church I pastor, Providence Church, the broader church in Lynchburg, Virginia, (especially Rivermont Presbyterian and several other local churches), the New Covenant Schools community, Community Bible Study, our CREC denomination (https://crechurches.org), and her churches around the United States and World, and quite literally, the church around the world, have prayed for us and sent us many prayers and thoughts of love and concern. Christ's Church is alive and well! God bless you all my brothers and sisters in Christ.
I am going to try to catch up my blog as I have energy. You can find that here: http://vhurt.blogspot.com I am doing well, just feeling quite a lot of fatigue as I recover.
I died on Friday and rose on Sunday, like Jesus. Why? Because I am a preacher and not very good at illustrations, which is a bad combination. So, the Lord had to make me a dying and living illustration. Don't imagine I'll get a better one.
If you are in Christ Jesus, then you also died on Friday and rose on Sunday. If you are in Christ, then all that He has done and all that He is, is also yours.
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20.
And if you are not in Christ, then the frightening specter of Death without Resurrection looms before you. That sort of death is frightening, indeed.
So, I have become a living example of what it means to be saved. It means that Jesus saves you. He literally does so. All those who are in Him, know this, even if the reality of this truth is not always before our eyes. Those who are not saved by Jesus, or don't want to be saved by Jesus, have no idea of their need, of His grace, or of His resurrecting power.
Like Lazarus, I will die again. But I know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and so I do not fear that death. The Lord Jesus has vanquished sin and death and they hold no power over me. What a tremendous comfort and peace this is.
I don't really look forward to death. What I have seen of it thus far is pretty unpleasant. Death is still an enemy. But there is resurrection on the other side, and like, Jesus, I am willing to face death for the joy of Resurrection that is on the other side. And by Resurrection, I don't mean just the condition of existing as a spirit in Heaven. I mean full blown bodily Resurrection. In the Resurrection, we get the last laugh over sin and death. Our bodies are reconstituted and we live forever. Won't that make a mockery of sin and death?!
The Lord has decided that it is better for me to stay and not depart at this time. I am thankful to Him, particularly happy for my wife, my children and grandchildren, my church and you, my friends.
Our Lord Jesus is gracious and kind, slow to anger, long-suffering and quick to forgive sins. Embrace Him with faith today.
Grace and Peace,
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