Last week was full of tragic stories of loss.  It seemed everywhere I turned there was another heartbreaking tale from friends and family.

The 25-year-old cousin of my nephew who overdosed after a long-term sobriety, two teenagers lost at sea who were friends of a friend of mine, the 45-year-old acquaintance who died of a blood clot after a successful surgery, and the list goes on….

Geez, do the catastrophes ever end?

The short answer is no.  The longer and scarier answer is that not only will they not end, but at some point it is going to be me…or you.  Eek.

And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Ecclesiastes 12:7

Personally, I’ve had way too many dear ones die of cancer to not understand how fragile life is.  The intriguing thing to me is that I’m still shocked to hear of death and I somehow forget it is going to happen to me one day, too!

Not that I think we should all live waiting to die, but I do think we need to be ready because no one gets out of here alive. (There have been special cases, but I doubt I will be one of them.)

The cool thing is that as a Jesus follower, I know that this life is not what I’m struggling to attain pleasure from…heaven is the ultimate and that’s where I want to be.

My CPA’s assistant said it best when she told me that she feels like she isn’t from this world.  Love this because it’s SO TRUE…we aren’t!  We are from God and will return to Him because we are HIS!!

For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. Romans 14:8

Another piece of encouragement is that the Bible mentions several times about those who sleep – please see 1Thessalonians 4:13-18, John 11:11-14, and 1Corinthians 15:20.

The sleep metaphor works for me because it just isn’t so dang scary!!!!  Plus, resting in the Lord sounds absolutely marvelous.

It would help me a ton if I would stop giving death such a huge party in my head and instead, realize that God’s always in control and the babies in the womb analogy is perfect (saw it on Facebook of course and don’t have a clue who wrote it):

In a mother’s womb were two babies. One asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?” The other replies, “why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later. “Nonsense,” says the other. “There is no life after delivery. What would that life be?” “I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths.” The other says “This is absurd! Walking is impossible. And eat with our mouths? Ridiculous. The umbilical cord supplies nutrition. Life after delivery is to be excluded. The umbilical cord is too short.” “I think there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here.” the other replies, “No one has ever come back from there. Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery it is nothing but darkness and anxiety and it takes us nowhere.” “Well, I don’t know,” says the other, “but certainly we will see mother and she will take care of us.” “Mother??” You believe in mother? Where is she now? “She is all around us. It is in her that we live. Without her there would not be this world.” “I don’t see her, so it’s only logical that she doesn’t exist.” To which the other replied, “sometimes when you’re in silence you can hear her, you can perceive her.” I believe there is a reality after delivery and we are here to prepare ourselves for that reality.

I love that!!!  The Bible says it better…“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Take a moment to consider where your life is headed.  Are you ready to give an account of where you’ve been and where you are?

Because one day it is gonna be us.

Some Wisdom for Today:  Proverbs 14:32 – The wicked is overthrown through his evildoing, but the righteous finds refuge in his death.