The patriarch Isaac was an old man when he said, "I do not know the day of my death" (Genesis 27:2). That is true of us whether we're young or old. We never know when the thread of life is going to be broken. This fact was vividly illustrated by something that happened in France in 1965.

A lawyer, Andre-Franois Raffray, agreed to purchase the apartment of Jeanne Louise Calment in the city of Arles. Theirs was a legal arrangement under which he, then age 47, agreed to pay Mademoiselle Calment, then age 90, $500 a month for the right to move into her splendid apartment when she died. What a bargain! Or so he thought. She went on living for 32 more years, while he lived for only 30. He died at 77, after paying $184,000 for an apartment he never occupied. His widow and heirs had to continue paying Mademoiselle Calment the agreed monthly payment until she died—at age 122! On her 120th birthday she had commented, "In life, one sometimes makes bad deals."

What a great reminder that none of us can know when we will die. It may be that "this night your soul will be required of you" (Luke 12:20). How vitally important, therefore, that you make sure of your eternal destiny! You can do that right now by asking Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior.  —VCG  — Vernon C. Grounds