I entered the Autumn of life. Well, that is if I live to 80. If I\u2019m gone by 60\u2026it\u2019s Winter. If I exit tomorrow this is the last you\u2019ll hear from me. Either way leaves are resting in vibrant colors and letting go. It\u2019s been a year of heartbreak and triumphant love. Uncovering grievous secrets and profitable revelation. Shedding tears and dangerous attachments.
At this age death and dying often becomes the main course at dinner. Parents and senior friends are long on losses and short on victories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is not by any means a new thought. Death has been the tracks of 28 years as a Christian. Dying to this ornery appetite is the hardest best life there is. Knowing this Jesus who planted Himself in the center of my chaos is my greatest incentive for another twelve months. But this is not the type of death and dying the people around me fear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eighty-five years is a heap of dreams. A stadium of acquaintances. Reams of relationships. And a storehouse of stuff. Amazingly\u2026it all fits in a 400 square ft. room in the end. I stomp out of the Memory Care facility raging at God. This is it!? All the years we run \u2014 for eating and drinking, buying and selling, marrying and building \u2014 only to ferment with our dusty pictures and trophies. Life is a cruel joke! Are you laughing at us, God? I sob.
In my trembling He speaks\u2026
Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, \u201cAll these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.\u201d Then Jesus said to him, \u201cAway with you, Satan! For it is written, \u2018You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’\u201d Matt 4:8-10
Remember this encounter? Satan offers the world to Jesus if He would just denounce God. And He replies, \u201cGet away from Me!\u201d But we said, \u201cI\u2019ll take it!\u201d We took the deal\u2026and the devil has the last laugh on our deathbed\u2026unless we fold. I forgot this dilemma which God used to repossess me once. My life is no joke to God. He trekked the wilderness to keep me from becoming a punch-line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.\u201d Acts 26:15-18<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I entered the Autumn of life. Well, that is if I live to 80. If I\u2019m gone by 60\u2026it\u2019s Winter. If I exit tomorrow this is the last you\u2019ll hear from me. Either way leaves are resting in vibrant colors and letting go. It\u2019s been a year of heartbreak and triumphant love. Uncovering grievous secrets […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143625079,"featured_media":15437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[54418],"tags":[17218,8437,773157869,773157876],"class_list":["post-2561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bible","tag-aging","tag-death","tag-fear","tag-salvation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pacmrQ-Fj","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3947,"url":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?p=3947","url_meta":{"origin":2561,"position":0},"title":"The Bitter & Sweet of Grief","author":"Jo Alo","date":"October 18, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"First the bitter. I\u2019ve never lost a loved one, before today. Sunken eyes, dragging form cause me to fear this will be the last moments all four of us will be together. Once we cover recent therapies and medical realities, we hear his hoarse voice faintly say, \u201cI\u2019m reading Job.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Bible"","block_context":{"text":"The Bible","link":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?cat=54418"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/img_6570.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/img_6570.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/img_6570.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/img_6570.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18169,"url":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?p=18169","url_meta":{"origin":2561,"position":1},"title":"When Therapy Sounds More Like Sorcery","author":"Jo Alo","date":"March 24, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm noticing in Christian circles how psychology is bordering dangerously close to sorcery. What I mean is\u2014we're more fascinated with new, innovative discoveries with the brain, than with studying \"the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sorcery"","block_context":{"text":"Sorcery","link":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?cat=233394"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kateryna-hliznitsova-_oadi5hexs4-unsplash-e1774021305537.jpg?fit=1085%2C724&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kateryna-hliznitsova-_oadi5hexs4-unsplash-e1774021305537.jpg?fit=1085%2C724&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kateryna-hliznitsova-_oadi5hexs4-unsplash-e1774021305537.jpg?fit=1085%2C724&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kateryna-hliznitsova-_oadi5hexs4-unsplash-e1774021305537.jpg?fit=1085%2C724&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kateryna-hliznitsova-_oadi5hexs4-unsplash-e1774021305537.jpg?fit=1085%2C724&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3800,"url":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?p=3800","url_meta":{"origin":2561,"position":2},"title":"Matters of Life & Death: How Do You Know You Love God?","author":"Jo Alo","date":"October 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Life and death, like seasons, roll in abruptly and fade away swiftly. 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He was going to tell me how hopeless I was. Look at me like a weak old woman. Send me out limping on both hips. Feeling worse\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "fear"","block_context":{"text":"fear","link":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?cat=32976"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/a5a7e-dsc_0158.jpeg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/a5a7e-dsc_0158.jpeg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/a5a7e-dsc_0158.jpeg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/a5a7e-dsc_0158.jpeg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joalo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/a5a7e-dsc_0158.jpeg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17395,"url":"https:\/\/joalo.org\/?p=17395","url_meta":{"origin":2561,"position":4},"title":"How Christmastime is Really About The End of Time","author":"Jo Alo","date":"December 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you ever wanted to write your story? I hear that phrase a lot: \"your story\". But there's so much more to us than one story, one book, one cover. We're more than 21 chapters, 50,000 words. We're not merely time, and space, and word count. 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And it was. Up in flames after 26 years of enjoying his face. Held her in my arms tight as I could. That mama who just got the news. Her curly-headed boy went to sleep in Jesus. 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