Mark Millican: Are we clutching the baton?

Published 11:34 pm Tuesday, November 18, 2014

The fawns who walk our property in Ellijay have lost their spots, and along with their parents, have just now turned the darker, almost slate color they need to hide among the less colorful hues of the forest. In deer years, I guess one could say the fawns are now teenagers.

With each rain and gust of wind, more of our autumn palette is erased, no longer adorning the woods and distant fence lines of still-green pastures. Folklore of acorn and caterpillar and hornet — and actual folks themselves — predict two-in-a-row of a hard, cold winter. We shall see.

But for now, the changing of the seasons is in our faces. One more autumn turning winter also reminds us time is passing. And with the passing of time comes the passing of people, some we know and some we only know of. As we grow older we sometimes marvel at the youth of those on the obituary page, but more often than not, notice in an unsubtle and at times unnerving fashion how many are around our own age.

Last week brought the death of a hard-working and effective minister who seemed to be in the prime of his outreach here on Earth. Myles Munroe, described as “an internationally-known author, Bible teacher, governmental consultant and leadership mentor,” died in a plane crash in the Bahamas with his wife, Ruth, and other ministry leaders.

A friend at Christian radio station WCCV-FM in Cartersville recalled Munroe as being one of the first people to talk about God having a purpose for each person’s life. Neil Hopper said the Bahamian-born minister once came to his church in Cedartown.

“Our folks just ate his teaching up,” said Hopper. “It was a pastors conference and many of them were going on and on about how awesome his teaching was — he was an excellent Bible teacher.”

Munroe shared what he felt was a prophetic dream just before he died. He saw a track and field athlete in a coffin, still clutching a relay baton.

“It was about people dying with a baton instead of passing it on,” Munroe interpreted as reported in charismanews.com. “I was thinking, the young person who’s supposed to lead next has to go to the casket, pry the baton out of the dead man’s hand just to take it to the next leg. Great leaders pass (the baton) on before they die, and they live to see the other person run.”

And yet, Munroe was taken from this Earth during his race. Did he pass the baton in time? I would say so, since the 60-year-old was continually teaching and training younger leaders, and was en route to a conference when his plane went down.

Does his dream make us wonder? Are we passing on what we know, or sitting on it?

It strikes me that all of us have something to pass on to the next generation, and we don’t have to be organizational leaders or even “long in the tooth” to do it. Why, even a first-grader has a kindergartner who looks up to him or her.

Are you clutching your baton?

Pardon me for cutting this column short, but I gotta go talk with my grandsons.

Mark Millican is a former Daily Citizen staff writer and is editor of the Times-Courier in Ellijay.