Grandpa's last words

​My Grandpa Distler was a pastor for over 50 years before ending his ministry as a superintendent of a Rescue Mission in northern California.  He’s a big reason why I am a pastor today.  Years ago, my Grandpa was spending his final days in his battle against cancer.  I flew out to visit my Grandpa knowing it would be the final time I would ever get to see him and talk to him this side of heaven. When it finally came time to say good-bye I walked into his bedroom where my Grandpa was laying on a hospital bed, his body riddled with cancer.  I laid my head on his chest, weeping.  I remember my grandpa wrapping his arms around me and speaking the last words to me that I would ever hear him say. He simply said, “Son, don't ever give up on the Lord”.  Those were his final words.  “Don't ever give up on the Lord.”  I'm not sure I understood the power of those words back then as I told my grandpas good-bye but the older I get, the more meaningful they have become.  Ministry can be tough and it has produced its share pf scars in my life but I have been able to remember those last words of my grandpa, “Son, don't ever give up on the Lord.”