multiple sclerosis

The man whose funeral I conducted today had MS.

He'd left a will and in the will the only request he'd made in regard to the funeral service was the choice of reading. He'd chosen Ecclesiastes 12.1-8.

When they mentioned the choice of reading to me, his family weren't that sure they'd got it right. But it seemed to me from the start to be pretty clear.

The man had MS, remember. And this is the passage he chose (I combined the NIV with The Message, and a line from the KJV) -

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them"-

Before your vision dims and the world blurs and the winter years keep you close to the fire. Before your body no longer serves you so well, and your muscles slacken, your grip weakens, your joints stiffen, and the shades are pulled down on the world.

You can't come and go at will. Things grind to a halt. The hum of the household fades away. You are wakened now by bird-song.

Hikes to the mountains are a thing of the past. Even a stroll down the road has its terrors.

Your hair turns apple-blossom white, adorning a fragile and impotent matchstick body.

Yes, you're well on your way to eternal rest, while your friends make plans for your funeral.

Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over. Life as we know it, precious and beautiful, ends. The body is put back in the same ground it came from. The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it.

"Vanity! Vanity!" says the Teacher. "All is vanity!"

Except I explained as I read the passage that the Hebrew translated 'Vanity' could as well be translated 'Frustration'.

Frustration! Frustration! Everything is frustration.

I guess that puts it pretty well. What life felt like for this man.

The guy was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis when only 28. He died aged 63.

You can do the maths yourself.

For more than half his years he suffered from this cruel, debilitating illness which slowly, surely wrapped its suffocating tentacles around his life, depriving him progressively of all he held most dear.

So I can well understand why he wanted this passage read. What's it like to live your life like that? Frustration sums the whole thing up.

No wonder he wanted to say to folk -

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come.

Because sooner or later, in one form or another, the troubles will certainly come. To us all.

And it's always a whole load easier to have rooted your life in Christ before the troubles come.

Pitching your tent in a storm is kind of hard. I tried that once.

I was doing some walking on the island of Skye, in amongst the Cuillins. The weather's pretty unpredictable there. And the wind can get up right out of the blue.

And it did. A raging storm. And I was due to be camping that night.

I tried to pitch the tent. A hopeless task. Absolutely hopeless.

Don't try pitching your tent in a raging storm. Get it done before the storm sets in. It's a whole load easier. Believe me.

That's what this guy was saying, I guess, in choosing the reading he did.

Get sorted with God before the storms set in. Because once the storm's set in, once the wind is raging, it's hard to pitch your tent.

That's what I'm trying to tell folk to do all the time.

Now is the time to get sorted with God.