Death

There were two significant deaths in my life recently.

First, one of my former students was murdered a couple weeks ago. She was 21 years old, and inside of her, a child or 7 months. I have never known anyone who was murdered.

Then, last week, we received word that the African orphan boy who my parents had been financially and prayerfully supporting died after a 13 year battle with HIV AIDS. I had the opportunity to meet him in person twice over the past few years, so it was quite personal.  Here is a video about Fiacre.

In both cases, lives were cut significantly short by circumstances beyond their control. It’s impossible to experience such tragedies without the conjuring of overwhelming emotions and a wide range of thoughts.

Life is short. That’s what I keep coming back to. It’s easy for me to assume that my life will last 75.6 years, the current U.S. male life expectancy. But it’s also very possible that it could be cut short. We just don’t know. This fact should impact the way I live my life.

The other thing I keep coming back to, is that earth, and this slightly overweight body, are a temporary home. Each of these precious lives is now experiencing life fuller than I can even imagine in an eternal home. My eternal home.

"In Christ, there are no goodbyes". So I'll see these friends again...when I finally go home.

As a matter of chat…

Do you think you're invincible? That your life can't end tomorrow? Are you living like it? Or are you living each day with purpose? What's after this life for you? How sure are you?