Crossing the Finish Line

This week (and it's not over yet!) three deaths have been close to home for me.

In my role as a fire department chaplain I've become too familiar with the pain and grief that accompanies the loss of a loved one. Being in a resort community on the ocean that little private room off of the Emergency Room is not usually a fun place to be. It's there I try to provide comfort to total strangers, many of whom are on vacation.

People die on vacation? That's a subject for another time, but yes.

The three who passed this week, however, were not strangers. One was an attender of my church - and a real link to Old Nags Head. Another was my next door neighbor. In his eighties and in frail health, he spent the last week of his life in the nursing home. The third was a friend who I met at a retreat. He became my son and daughter-in-law's pastor for the first two years of their married life.

We're all running the race that is life. For most of us that race is a marathon. For some it's a sprint. For us all it eventually has a finish line. The mystery is that we have no clue when we'll cross over it. But we can be ready.

All three of my friends were prepared. None of them lived perfect lives, not even the pastor. But they all had at some time in life traded in their life for the eternal life offered freely by Jesus Christ by simply believing in Him.

Maybe they've already met in Heaven in the Welcome Wagon Reception. Maybe in their conversations they discovered they all knew me...which likely resulted in an immediate prayer meeting on my behalf! But they're there, not because they knew me, but because of a promise from Christ.

Jesus said, "I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life."

Keep running. But be ready to cross the line.