I’ve never lived this long before

A few weeks ago, I discovered a song by the Statler Brothers called “I’ve Never Lived This Long Before” The lyrics, in part, go like this: I′ve met all my heroes and shook all the hands, of all that I wanted to meet I've kissed all the women that once were the girls, I dreamed about falling asleep. I′ve looked up the bullies from grade and high school & gave them a piece of my mind I've even looked up some old teachers I had and 'pologized for being unkind. I′ve talked to my mama and told her I knew; I had not done all that I could She just smiled and kissed me and said after all, prayers answered late are still good. There's nothing I've done that I wish I′d done less but there′s a few I wish I'd done more And the thing I find hardest to believe is I′m here, 'cause I′ve never lived this long before. My favorite part of the song is the line that says, “Prayers answered late are still good.” I’ve been thinking about that line a lot in the past week as I’ve prepared my sermons for Advent. Traditionally, the second Sunday of Advent focuses on John the Baptist and how he was conceived in his parents’ old age. They had been praying for a child a long time, and just when it seemed like the answer was “no,” God gave them John. Like the song says, “Prayers answered late are still good.” Homer Hammersley, one of our long-time members, used to say that “God answers prayer in three ways: Sometimes he says “yes,” sometimes he says “no,” and sometimes he says “wait.”