Death is Just a Gardener
To be honest, this has been a difficult short essay to write. So much so that my “May” newsletter has drifted into June. I had something planned out and sat down several weeks ago to write it at the dealership as our car was serviced for a few hours, but before I could write a word of it I learned that pastor and author Tim Keller had died.
I still remember where I was when I picked up my first Tim Keller book. I found it in a bargain bin at a Borders Books. The title grabbed me: Prodigal God. “Sounds interesting,” I thought, and bought it. I had no idea the importance this one moment would have on the course of the rest of my life.
From that point on, I read anything and everything I could get my hands on from Keller. If you looked at my bookshelves today, his work takes up more space than any other author except for J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Robert Jordan, and Brandon Sanderson.
His example of faithful kingdom service, gracious and incisive engagement with skeptics, gentleness, doctrinal fidelity, and humility amidst incredible successes has deeply impacted me as a man, a husband, a parent, a pastor, and a writer.
Dropping the topic I’d initially planned, I was going to write more about Tim Keller and his impact on me for this newsletter. But then I received word that my grandmother had passed away. It was only just this January when my brother Joey died. I didn’t know it at the time, but his memorial would be the last time I saw my grandmother before she passed as well.
This has been a year filled with death for me. Even as I wrote these words I learned of the passing of a longtime colleague at work. And here I sit with not a whole lot to say about it to myself or to you, dear reader. Except to remember those that I’ve lost and to share a small glimmer of what made them special and what they meant to me. How they shaped me and helped make me the man I am today.
It was my grandmother who helped to cultivate my love of reading in the first place. Some of my fondest memories as a child were the trips she took me onto the local mall for my birthday. After we ate lunch in the food court, we would go to the bookstore and she would buy me whatever book or books that I wanted. Then we would go back to her house, where I could spend the rest of the day eating sweets and reading my new books. The perfect day.
Nana was the one to give me my first set of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, sparking a lifelong passion for Tolkien and his works that continues to this day.
Joey and I shared a love of books and reading as well. All my brothers and I loved similar books: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien, The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, and anything and everything by Brandon Sanderson were some of our favorites. We bonded over the stories and their many adaptations, spinoffs, and board, card, and video game versions.
And I’ve already shared about how Keller was wrapped up in my literary life, though I haven’t mentioned that he too was a fellow lifelong Tolkien fan.
In several interviews he gave before his death and that I watched, Tim Keller cited the following line from George Herbert, who said “Death used to be an executioner, but the gospel has made him just a gardener.”
Death used to be an executioner, but the gospel has made him just a gardener.
—George Herbert (via Tim Keller)
It’s a beautiful thought. Death is no longer the final sentence. For those in Christ, death is just a pruning, just a transplanting. We have hope in the gospel that Death does not get the final say.
So yes, Death is just a gardener. And that is a beautiful thought. But the pruning still stings. There have been many cuts this year, and though I trust that they are not without purpose, the pain is still raw. The loss still aches.
Death is not the only gardener, however. There is another Gardener, one who comforted Mary in her grief outside the empty tomb, whose hands, feet, and sides are pierced, and who waits to comfort us in our grief if we will but let him.
Funnies
Toddler Corner
Reading
Died: Tim Keller, New York Pastor Who Modeled Winsome Witness (Christianity Today)—“We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” There were so many wonderful pieces written about Tim Keller, but this is the only one that I’ve been able to bring myself to read.
Listening
There is One Gospel by CityAlight—a favorite recent worship song
“Rainn Wilson Tells Me Where I’m Wrong on Spirituality” (The Russell Moore Show)—Russell Moore, editor in chief of Christianity Today, sits down with Rainn Wilson (Dwight from The Office) for a fascinating conversation about spirituality.
Watching
Single Parents—still making our way through it and loving each episode
Ted Lasso—season three wrapped up and…well, I thought that this was overall the weakest season of the three. However, it ended well (and I’m glad we finished it! We were tempted to give up at some points in the season). Will there be a spinoff? Who knows, but this was a mostly fitting and enjoyable end to the show.
Dungeons & Dragons—thoroughly enjoyed this, especially as I’m playing Dungeons & Dragons for the first time!
Enola Holmes 2—fun. the sibling chemistry that Millie Bobby Brown and Henry Cavill have is highly entertaining and the plot was clever enough to entertain but not overly complicated or convoluted. Mostly lighthearted and fun. If you liked the first, you’ll like this one.
Thank you as always for reading and caring. What are you enjoying, reading, watching, learning, etc?