{"id":1465,"date":"2014-12-09T09:16:13","date_gmt":"2014-12-09T14:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=1465"},"modified":"2014-12-09T10:45:08","modified_gmt":"2014-12-09T15:45:08","slug":"toms-dad-is-going-home-on-dying-and-for-the-rest-of-us-finishing-strong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=1465","title":{"rendered":"Tom’s Dad Is Going Home…and for the Rest of Us…the Hope of Finishing Strong"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Blog<\/a><\/p>\n

For to me, to live is<\/i> Christ, and to die is<\/i> gain. But if I<\/i> live on in the flesh, this will mean<\/i> fruit from my<\/i> labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.\u00a0<\/span> For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is<\/i> far better.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/sup><\/span>– the Apostle Paul in a letter to the Philippians; 1:21-23<\/p>\n

Mr. Elliff is dying…or really, finally going Home, at 97 years young.<\/p>\n

He is the father\/father-in-law of our dear, dear friends Tom & Jeannie Elliff.<\/p>\n

Tom describes this as only he can…don’t miss this brief story of a beloved father and a redeemed life – Dad is Going Home.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

I never met Mr. Elliff but I know him through Tom’s stories of him. I also know more about the stewardship of whatever comes our way,\u00a0again, through Tom’s stories. Not just through his stories, but through the lives of Tom and Jeannie.<\/p>\n

\"Blog<\/a><\/p>\n

When we think of someone dear dying, we think of others living with\u00a0the prospect\u00a0more real…as with a recurrent cancer. I saw my mom go through it in such a way that every day of her 3-year battle brought glory to God. That was all she wanted.\u00a0There are\u00a0others we love going gloriously through cancer and its treatment…by God’s grace and in the joy of the Lord…and we ourselves are changed.\u00a0This is a picture of the God we love, who loves us more…this view of God in Tom & Jeannie Elliff’s life (life, not lives…because “if ever two were one”,\u00a0then surely\u00a0[they].*<\/p>\n

\"Blog<\/a><\/p>\n

“Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is<\/i> more needful for you.\u00a0 And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith,\u00a0<\/span> that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again.”<\/span> – the Apostle Paul again – Philippians 1:24-26<\/p>\n

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. – 2 Timothy 4:7<\/p>\n

For us…for now…we remain…for there is still a race to be won.<\/p>\n

Praying for you, Tom and Jeannie.<\/p>\n

Tom Elliff Website & Blog<\/a><\/p>\n

If Ever Two Were One – Puritan Poet Anne Bradstreet<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo Credits – Jeannie Elliff & Family<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.\u00a0 For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.\u00a0\u00a0– … Continue reading Tom’s Dad Is Going Home…and for the Rest of Us…the Hope of Finishing Strong<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_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}},"categories":[810,794,147,678,599,33,263,610,32],"tags":[848,850,264,845,846,148,268,798,744,844,175,849,847,527,39],"class_list":["post-1465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-good-gifts","category-faithfulness","category-family-2","category-friendship","category-heaven","category-inspired","category-lives-full-of-god","category-thanksgiving-or-gratefulness","category-walk-with-god","tag-a-race-to-win","tag-anne-bradstreet","tag-cancer","tag-chemotherapy","tag-courageous","tag-dad","tag-dying","tag-faithfulness-2","tag-finishing-strong","tag-going-home","tag-joy","tag-living-in-the-word","tag-to-live-is-christ","tag-tom-jeannie-elliff","tag-tom-elliff"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pauPAB-nD","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1465"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1483,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465\/revisions\/1483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}