John Gipson, a talented writer and preacher, once wrote about another talented writer. You would not likely know the name, Jozef Korzeniowski. But, you might know the name he took, Joseph Conrad. Conrad is generally considered to be one of the great novelists to write in the English language.
A number of Conrad’s stories involved a nautical setting. He seemed to capture the thrill of a sea voyage beginning and ending. The excitement of departure carried great expectation. But, there was an even greater thrill as land appeared where the journey ended.
As someone spotted the approach of land, a cry would go out, “Landfall!” Conrad would describe the attitude of the ship’s commander. Not content to remain in his stateroom, he would “go out on deck and gaze ahead, through straining eyes, as the appointed moment comes nearer.”
Gipson confessed that as a young preacher he could never understand the restlessness of many elderly saints. Then he admitted, “Only now am I beginning to see dimly what they were looking for. Landfall! The journey’s end!”
We do not know Paul’s age when he wrote Philippians. But, he understood landfall. “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:22). Also, “. . . having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better” (Phil. 1:23). Landfall!
The chorus of the song, “Alone At Eve,” reminds all of us, young and old, where we desire our landfall to be. Remember? “O for a home with God, a place in His courts to rest, sure in a safe abode with Jesus and the blest; rest for a weary soul once redeemed by the Savior’s love, where I’ll be pure and whole and live with my God above.”
Let’s make sure we will be ready when our time comes to reach the eternal shore!
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