Thoughts From Among the Living

This has been an unusual week. It started Sunday, when a dear friend from our church told me that her father, who has been a nursing home patient for several years, was at the point of death. I went to the facility between morning and evening church, and things were pretty serious, so I left church on Sunday night and just went back to be with our friend and her father. Another friend was on hand, and I offered to stay in the room while they walked outside for some air. Moments after they left the room, the man in the bed before me gasped and twisted and breathed his last earthly breath.

It wasn't the first time I'd watched someone die, in fact it's happened several times in the years I've been serving the Lord. Somehow, I think God must have gifted me with some extra level of fortitude for these things in order to be strong for those who mourn. Nonetheless, it had quite an impact on me. I didn't sleep well after coming home and getting in bed at 2:00 a.m. from escorting the funeral director to the room and holding doors and things as he loaded the body for transport to the mortuary.

There is something that happens when we're confronted with death. On one hand, death can be cruel and vicious and mean; but this passing wasn't that way. In fact, there was a peace about this man's last breath and the long moment of silence that followed as I watched for another before calling the head nurse. It was as if he had not lost, but gained something--as if his final expiration were only awaiting the next inhalation that would be drenched with the perfume of heaven itself.

I don't know about your experience with death, but my own often challenges me to remember my own mortality and to want to make the very most of the breaths God has allotted to me. To Adam, our forbear, God proclaimed "...Remember, oh man: dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return."

When we consider the temporary nature of our substance--like a child's snowman, praying for an extended cold spell, but knowing all along the sun won't cease for an instant its constant beaming down.

For my part, I want to use every breath to best advantage. As I've gotten older, I've come to understand that there is a right time to rest and take care of oneself, but I also have a growing sense of urgency about the things God has called me to.

Pray for me that I might make good use of the time God has alotted, and I will pray the same for you.

May God keep you in His perfect, loving care until we meet again!

In Jesus' Lovely Name,

--Steve