Dr. Farrar and Living Forever

I went to a medical missions conference a few times while I was in college. There was an old hunched-over missionary surgeon named Henry Farrar that would usually speak at a few sessions. We all loved to hear him tell stories about his work at a small rural hospital in Africa. He had a funny demeanor and was always smiling and chuckling to himself as he went about. I heard someone ask him one time why he was always smiling and in his thick Tennessee accent he said, "Well, I'm gonna live forever, so it's hard not to be happy about that." Dr. Farrar has since passed on and I never got to know him personally, but this short, off-hand response changed my life. He really believed that what Jesus did meant he would live forever and that gave him real joy.

1 Timothy 6:11-13 (NIV)But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.