“.....but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face.”
And that is really the point. How an individual CHOOSES (and it is a CHOICE, an act of the free will that God has given us), a choice about where we place our focus. If your eyes are focused above, on the ‘all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ’ part of what God has promised us, you try, with God’s help, to live your life as an acknowledgment of this wonderful promise. We can do this because of what Christ was willing to do FOR us.
Tony did the above, as well as any human being still dealing with the ‘flesh’, is able to do. He was a point of light, something positive to look to, an example of how to TRY to go about living out a life while still carrying about an earthly ‘tent’. The tent/flesh is the temporary part of our existence. Tony has graduated on to the next phase. The ‘eternal’ part of the promises to those who are ‘in Christ’.
I, almost, envy him. But, I still have a long way to go to achieve the attitude that seemed to come so easily from him. So I keep plugging away, down here.
I don’t post too often. I get too earnest. I take my faith seriously, and it always seems to creep into my posts, even when I am trying to keep them secular. I know that is not always welcome to some readers, so I am cautious.
But Tony, well, his faith was the biggest part of who he was. That’s the way it should be, I think. What you ‘believe’ SHOULD become what you ‘are’. I am very wary of public, elected official types, who say they ‘believe’, but then don’t translate that belief into their public behavior, into how they do their jobs as legislators, or whatever. Tony, well, he always seemed to LIVE his belief. That attracted me, and many of us, like a magnet.
A light has gone out of this world, but he still exists, and is still ‘our Tony Snow’.
pattyjo
pattyjo
You SHOULD post more often! That was beautiful and very well said! And I needed to see your words more than you know. Thank you so much!
I am clipping your post and keeping it in a special place as a reminder to me of how I want to live from now on. What a beautiful tribute to the example of Tony’s life.
Tony was the perfect example of the happy Christian. He was someone who took God’s Promise of everlasting life to those who believe in His Word very seriously, but wasn’t a preachy and dour man. He exuded that love from God, enjoyed life, lived it to the fullest, and showed everyone around him kindness. THAT’S the best Christian witness I can imagine, and he was likely a spark of repentance and conversion for many about whom he’ll never know.