photo #7437294

"Pondering Death" 53 year old, athletic, fit, active man. No sign of disease. No foreshadowing. Just shockingly sudden. We are all disturbed by this because he was only 53. Eighty-three we can understand. But this? He was good to his neighbors; fixed bikes for the kids; took care of the elderly lady next door. He mentored vets returning to civilian life. Devoted himself to caring for stray animals. Loved his family. Worked hard. An all-around good guy. It doesn’t seem right in the vast scheme of things for him to be cut down so early while lazy, good-for-nothing bums and violent criminals are still walking around causing problems. So what is God thinking?Wrong question.The question we ought to be asking is—why did he get promoted early and get to skip all the stuff we still have to go through? Look at it this way. We’re all looking forward to going to heaven to be with Jesus and experience rest from the trials and tribulations of life on earth. But until the appointed time, we have to endure hardness as good soldiers, carefully traverse the valley of the shadow of death, persevere in faith to the end. But this guy got to skip all that. It’s like the superintendent of schools coming into your 5th grade class and telling you, “Hey, let’s skip all this. I’m graduating you right now!” I mean, how cool is that?In the meantime, however, we are still here. Tears need to be shed. Broken hearts need to heal. And maybe, just maybe, his testimony of faith in Jesus Christ might turn the hearts of one of his precious family members to the Lord.In that case, death will truly have lost its sting.