Romans 8:38-39-English Standard Version
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Every weekday morning, unless Jacquelynne has another mission for me, I sit down at my accustomed place in our family room with my raisin bran muffin and freshly brewed coffee and watch Perry Mason.
The series ran originally in the late ‘50s and into the ‘60s. The stories are set during the time in which I grew up. I love to see the old automobiles. They evoke fond memories of my first car. It was a 1949 Mercury with milled heads, dual exhaust and Hollywood mufflers. I bought it the day I turned 16.
Perry’s (Raymond Burr) confidential secretary was Della Street (Barbara Hale). She was very pretty and very smart too. In later years, her son William Katt, played the character Paul Drake in some Mason TV revivals.
Sometimes Jacquelynne will sit down and watch for a few minutes as she darts in and out of the area while doing whatever she does about the house in the morning. She likes to remark about the cast of characters that we see in each episode. They are familiar to us and still known and fondly remembered across the years.
Perry was a great lawyer! The profit margins from his practice must have been really impressive because he usually took a fixed fee for his cases, but they never actually went to trial. If you were or are a fan, you know that the real bad guy/gal always confessed during the preliminary hearing.
Usually Perry was opposed in court by District Attorney Hamilton Burger. One wonders how old Hamilton hung onto his job – what with his losing every case to Perry and all.
The point of my mentioning all this is that every one of the principal characters and, I suppose, the minor ones as well, are dead! Death has brought a separation. Although I never met any of these folks or even called them on a rotary dial telephone, that, or any other mode of communication, would now be impossible. A wall of separation exists. It is absolute! It is sobering. The reader can imagine that this realization is all too common for Jacquelynne and me. We are both 85 years old. There are not many that might be recalled by us from our young adulthood that still live. It is an eerie thing!
All of us know separation. Death is not the only or even the most common separator. Circumstances do the same although with less finality. Isn’t it good to know that Christ controls all things! He will not allow ANYTHING to separate us from Himself. He will be our light. He will be our life. He will be our Joy. He will be our comfort. He will be our ALL IN ALL – all the time and for all time.
I think that there is a night’s sleep in that.
George Moore
Elder Emeritus
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