I Did Something Dumb & Broke My Back. It Got Me Thinking …

I fractured my back twice at 76 years of age.

Back in the days of my youth, I would drag my tired body through the back door after a full day of work and say, “I tell you one thing, Miss Kay: That is back-breaking work.”

I said that then, but I had no idea about what back-breaking meant back when I was a young, strapping man. In fact, it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I really knew what back-breaking meant when I got the bright idea to unload a rather large aluminum boat into shallow water by placing my back against the bow and pushing it off the trailer.

I’ve done it a thousand times or more. But this time, as I put my back into it, I felt a sudden pain piercing my back like a hot knife. As I staggered, I turned to Dan the butler and said, “I’ve done it now.” 

The doctors said it was a fracture of one of my vertebrae. “No problem,” they said, “We’ll patch it up with a little cement, and you’ll be good to go. But you don’t need to be doing stuff like that again. You are, after all, 76 years old.”

Now you tell me, Doc. Unfortunately, just as I was recovering from the surgery, another one of my vertebrae decided to chip. So, by the time this little message goes to press, I’ll be in the midst of another procedure.

It’s an understatement to say that getting old is tough. I’m not fond of it one bit.

I’m telling you this, not to gain sympathy, but to remind you that one of two things happens to all people: Either we die young, or we die old. But you can rest assured that we all die. There is no escape from our appointment with the grave. Not for you, not for me. That’s a fact!

So, this leaves us with a question: Is the short time we have on this planet all there is? We all come from our mother’s wombs, live for a while, and then we die. But is that the end of it? If you’ve embraced a worldview that believes that this short journey is all there is, you may have a very rational fear of death. As a man once told me, no matter how long we live, we want more. And if the coffin is the end of it all, that is one bleak assessment of life.

However, before you sink into rank despair, I want to tell you another narrative that, if true, changes everything. 

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 

 “Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?” 

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

—1 Corinthians 15:54-57

Think about it: When I put my faith in Jesus and his death and resurrection, I get immortality. That’s the prize. I live forever with him. I’m not going to lie to you — I do not relish the years when my body begins to falter. Broken backs, aching joints, and the like? I don’t like it one bit. But from the day that I believed Jesus to be the crucified and risen Lord, I’ve been looking forward to the day I get to go meet him face-to-face.  

I will live out however many years the Almighty has for me with purpose. I will never fall prey to the the temptation to give up and throw in the towel because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead. But personally, I can’t wait for my mortal body to be clothed in immortality. That will be the best day of my life!