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To Walk the Last Mile

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“I’m here to walk the last mile with them,” the deacon thoughtfully summed up his role as an overseer of the nursing home. “In average we see about one off every month,” he added softly. From the bottom of my heart, I gave thanks to God for his humor, patience, candidness and, most of all, for enjoying his work. Located in Puli, a small township in central Taiwan, the Christian Renai Nursing Home is surrounded by verdant mountains. Founded in 1996, the nursing home sits peacefully on a premise of 177,950 square feet. As of December 2024, the facility is served by 50 staff and houses 85 residents. Of these residents, 60 percent are church members. Half of these members are still able to attend church services regularly. Each week, ten church services are held. The nursing home is where many last miles have been accomplished. Here care is given and received, from everyday functional activities to spiritual fulfillment. If one likens the whole person to a sculpture, the last mile is when the sculptor is nearing the completion of a work. Throughout life, God shapes us by various forces. Aging and infirmity are two such forces. Aging means going through many repetitions in life. Through these repetitions, God chips, chisels, and sands hard edges into gentle curves. The natural form of an individual is transformed into the fullness of His image. Through infirmity, God eventually takes away the outer form for the formless perfection from within.  Job, at the brink of his life, likens this transformation of going from form to formlessness as a process of rigorous refinery (Job 19: 25-27; 23: 10; 42:5). David therefore pleads in his prayers, “Do not cast me off in the time of old age, do not forsake me when my strength fails” (Psalms 71:9). On a separate occasion, he asks God to sustain him in his sickbed when the day comes (Psalms 41:3). In response, through Isaiah, God reassuringly proclaims, “Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I carry, and will deliver you” (Isaiah 46:4). Meaning, even as we come with imperfection and an expiration date, God’s warranty is infinite. For His own glory, He is responsible for His own handiwork.  Certainly, to the best of our ability, we take good care of ourselves. As the doctor’s advice goes, prevent the preventable and delay the inevitable. We aim to live actively, creatively and age gracefully. But when the inevitable meets us, we have no fear. Through the many repetitions in life, God has already prepared us ready for the day. 

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