Spring led with grey hairs

VITAS GERULAITIS and JIMMY CONNORS made up one of the most charming tennis partnerships I can remember. During the Roland Garros competition in France in 1989, this North American pair arrived at one of the games using crutches because people had said they were too old to play tennis. Vitas was 36 years old, and Jimmy 38. They laughed off the adverse criticism.

In the end, however, the final hour always comes. It's interesting that, when we are young, the end of our life seems very far off. Only later does one realise that the years of our greatest strength go by very quickly and, in the end, the days go by faster and faster as we accomplish less and less. We all have a limited life span, but we know that we are continually moving toward its end.

Many people don't want to admit this fact. They live as if they will never die. They aren't worried about the future, nor do they believe that one day everything will come to an end. For them, life is just a series of different situations and their only motivation is to live each moment to its fullest... and time passes. The end comes. We all know that death is our end, but we don't even like to talk about it. Death is the unknown that is waiting for us, the unexpected visitor, the guest that we think will take a long time to arrive.

In the Bible, God is talking about someone who doesn't realise his time is coming to an end. "Grey hairs also are sprinkled on him, yet he does not know it." It is always difficult to see ourselves get old. We are losing our life day by day... and we don't realise it. The situation in which we live, the people that we know, and the things we do, are taking away our strength day by day... and we don't realise it. Our head is becoming white... and we don't realise it.

Is that your situation? It doesn't matter if you are young or old. The days go by quickly for everyone. We may have many or few years left, but every day we get closer to the end of them. Think about it for a moment. Are you prepared to die? Or are you beginning to be covered with white hairs, and you don't know it? Many don't even want to hear the message of God, for they are too busy living their lives. But one day they will lose it. All who believe that eternal condemnation does not exist will change their mind as soon as the day arrives, when there is no longer any hope of salvation. During their lives, they were sprinkled with grey hairs, but they did not know it.