In the finishing touch, Chuck Swindoll tells about a man he met one Thanksgiving: “With a grin and a twinkle, he whipped out his hand. It was a hand you could strike a match on, toughness by decades of rugged toil. ‘You look like a man who enjoys life. What do you do for a living? I asked. ‘Me? Well, I’m a farmer from back in the Midwest.’
“Really?… (he) then he told me about his plans for traveling on his way to California. ‘What did you do last week? I asked. His answer stunned me. ‘“Last week I finished harvesting 90,000 bushels of corn’ he said with a smile.“I then blurted out, ‘ninety thousand! How old are you, my friend?’ He didn’t seem at all hesitant or embarrassed by my question, ‘I’m just a couple months shy O’ ninety’ He laughed again as I shook my head. He had lived through four wars, the Great Depression, sixteen Presidents, ninety Midwest winters, who know how many personal hardships, and he was still taking life by the throat. I had to ask him the secret of his long and productive life. ‘Hard work and integrity was his reply. As we parted company, he looked back over his shoulder and added, ‘Don’t take it easy, young feller, stay at it!”
My good friend Wayne Myers who has served in Mexico as a Missionary for over 70 years and helped to build over 6000 churches said at his 98 birthday party, “Our walk with Christ is always forward. Run Forward, and if you don’t have the strength to run, then walk! And if you don’t have the strength to walk then crawl. But never stop going forward.”