This Sunday morning at the men’s breakfast, it was announced that Houston and Eleanor Glover have moved to Madison, Wisconsin, to be near their son. This move is all about advancing age, declining health, and the absence of any family members down here. The Glovers have rented a small apartment and are putting their house on the market and starting life in a state which we call “the north” and Wisconsonians call “the midwest.”

A request went out to the men for assistance in loading the truck next week. “Everything left over will be given to Goodwill,” church administrator Danny Moore said.

When I commented that this has to be traumatic for the Glovers, easily some of the nicest people on the planet, Danny said, “They’ve lived here 61 years. Moved here in 1948.”

Houston was a life deacon in the First Baptist Church of Kenner and Eleanor served as wedding director for years. Classy, loving, gentle people. Low maintenance for a pastor; high returns of faithful service and dedicated labor for the Lord.

When Eleanor expressed that they would probably not find a church home there, Pastor Mike Miller made some calls, talked to a pastor in Madison, and located them a church family.

Still, the transition has to be extremely difficult. Danny said, “Eleanor is from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and has family there.”

But after 61 years, New Orleans is home.

Or to be exact, River Ridge and the Kenner/Metairie community is home. As locals will tell you, even though we are part of metro New Orleans and you can hardly tell when you drive from one into the other, it ain’t the same.

As the morning’s benediction was spoken and we gathered up the clutter of breakfast to toss in the trash, someone said to Danny Moore, “This is our future. Every one of us.”

We live and work, we raise our families and eventually retire, we age and deal with an unending litany of health problems, and find ourselves making tough decisions without any good alternatives.

It’s called life. It’s our future, if we are blessed enough to live long enough. Not everyone is.

Depressing? It would be if that were the whole story. But–pardon me here while I clear off some ground and have a shouting fit, as an old pastor of mine used to say–that’s not the end of the story. We grow old, we die, yes, but then things really start to get interesting.

“This momentary light affliction is working for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison.” That’s II Corinthians 4:17, and it’s a great promise.

Notice the three contrasts in that one verse….

–“affliction” here in this life, “glory” in the next.

–“light” here, “weight” there.

–“momentary” here, “eternal” there.

The future God has in store for us is “far beyond all comparison,” so there’s no point in trying. In the celestial realm, contrasting succeeds where comparisons fail.

I’ll give you a tiny prediction about Houston and Eleanor regarding their move. If they go into this transition without any hope for the future and thinking only of what they are leaving behind, they will be miserable.

If, however, they set their minds on the possibilities for the future, of the things God has in store for them–both in Madison, Wisconsin, and infinitely beyond–their hearts will rest easier, the adjustments will be smoother, and their family members will be amazed at the expected difficulties that never occurred.

Think of this transition as a metaphor for life.

American author William Saroyan gave an Associated Press reporter an interesting observation brought on by his advancing years. “Everybody has got to die, but I have always believed an exception would be made in my case. Now what?”

Saroyan died in 1981. The “what?” of his hereafter was determined by decisions he made in this life.

That might need a little clarification. Whether the famous writer went to Heaven or not was not the result of how much good he did in this life, or whether the good outweighed the bad, as my wife’s step-grandmother once put it. That may come as a surprise to modern minds. People have their heads set on salvation and eternity being a matter of good works.

“There is a way that seems right to man, but the ends are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25).

So much for “I have it all figured out.” We’d do better to see what Holy Scripture has to say.

Here it is:

“For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Jesus once said, “I am the door. By me if any man enter in, he shall find salvation.” (John 10:9)

The door to salvation is not death, contrary to what endless well-meaning obituaries declare. “He has entered into eternal life,” we keep reading.

The door to salvation is Jesus and that portal is entered in the present life.

You begin to live eternally the moment you open the door of your heart and soul to Christ and invite Him in as your Lord and Master. You are literally ‘born again’ (John 3) and ‘shall never die’ (John 11:25-26).

So, heads up Eleanor and Houston and all of God’s aging saints.

The best is yet to be.

And I’m not just referring to your social security checks or AARP benefits!!