Foreword
Here is a breath of fresh air, fragrant with orange blossoms, stirring the musty atmosphere of ageless literary tradition, yet coming from one who himself has passed fourscore years. It sounds an exultant WOW! amid the sobs and sighs of declining years.
Catch the upbeat optimism the author expresses in his opening Welcome: "For me life is an ice cream social . . . . I take issue with the conventional view of old people. I refuse to be dumped!" For the older person truly alive in Christ, the reading of these pages may prove to be a time of fresh vision, of calling to ministry, of new freedom and deepened spiritual reality.
The book is easy to read, full of wit and humor. It is cast in the colloquial style of cronies ripe in years, yet it contains much truth and wisdom. For most of us in the sunset years there are burdens to bear, sorrows and pains to endure, feelings of uselessness and loneliness to combat. Sherwood Eliot Wirt is aware that God has placed him in an unusual, favored situation. Yet his desire is to awaken those who may be settling
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down to a dull, dispirited existence, to open their eyes to the exciting possibilities right before them where they presently are, whatever their condition. Age, he contends, need not be uninteresting or without vital significance and meaning.
The note of joy lifted from these pages rises from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who imparts His love, joy, and peace to those who put their trust in Him. Thus the Bible can and does provide a Christian view of life that brightens and beautifies every aspect of ageing.
The different chapters broaden the range of advantage to us who are seniors. There are gifts of time, prayer, wisdom, memories, friends, contentment. For me the chapters on reading and travel are simply invaluable. The pages on love and sex for older people will not be passed over I feel sure! Nor should the fascinating view of Heaven.
Thanks, Woody.
Robert Boyd Munger
