Thinking of the fullness and duration of this wonderful life, W. B. Hinson, a great preacher of a past generation, spoke from his own experience just before he died. He said, "I remember a year ago when a doctor told me, 'You have an illness from which you won't recover.' I walked out to where I live 5 miles from Portland, Oregon, and I looked across at that mountain that I love. I looked at the river in which I rejoice, and I looked at the stately trees that are always God's own poetry to my soul. Then in the evening I looked up into the great sky where God was lighting His lamps, and I said, ' I may not see you many more times, but Mountain, I shall be alive when you are gone; and River, I shall be alive when you cease running toward the sea; and Stars, I shall be alive when you have fallen from your sockets in the great down pulling of the material universe!'"

Parable of the Twins Once upon a time, twin boys were conceived in their mother's womb. Weeks passed and the twins developed. As their awareness grew, they laughed for joy: "Isn't it great that we were conceived? Isn't it great to be alive?" Together the twins explored their world. When they discovered the umblical cord and realized that it passed life to them from their mother, they sang for joy. "How great is our mother's love, that she shares her own life with us." As weeks stretched into months, the twins began to notice that they were changing rapidly. "What does it mean?" asked one twin. "It means that our stay in this world is drawing to an end," said the other. "But I don't want to go. I want to stay here always." "We don't have a choice, and who knows--maybe there is life after birth!" "But how can that be? We will shed our life-cord, and how is life possible without it? Besides, no one has ever returned to the womb to tell us there is life after birth. No, this is the end." And so the one twin fell into despair. "If conception ends at birth, what is the purpose of life in the womb? It is meaningless. Maybe there is no mother at all!" "But there has to be," protested the other. "How else did we get here? How do we remain alive?" "Has either of us actually seen our mother? Maybe she lives in our minds. Maybe we made her up because we felt better believing in her." And so the last days in the womb arrived with deep questioning and fear. Finally, the moment of their birth arrived. And when the twins passed from their world, they opened their eyes. And the cried, because it was so beautiful.

Over Spring Break in March of 2006, 30 Chi Alpha students from Bozeman, MT traveled three days by bus to New Orleans to help people recover in the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina: "the most poignant moment came when a student, who is a relatively new Christian, walked into a ruined home and found a Bible still open on the kitchen table - where it has sat adhered by the original (and now dissipated) flood waters for months. 'The Bible was opened to Psalm 90 where it says <em>you are my dwelling place forever,</em>' Lant recalls. 'That moment really changed his life as he came to grips with the fact that earth was just a temporary residence . . . he now views things from a more spiritual perspective, what's most lasting in his life and how temporal materialism is.'"