An Unexpected Journey (Part 5)

A Side Note (1/17/20)

On a side note, God is good! His timing is sometimes unexpected, sometimes surprising, but always precise. Besides Rhonda’s cancer situation, I’ve been thinking of something else lately – death. My lovely wife’s recent diagnosis ferociously awakened something inside of me that we are all very aware of, yet I hadn’t really thought about…until now. Mortality. My wife’s, mine, yours. This has been a lot to process in my mind alongside Rhonda having cancer.

I am not nearly as concerned with my mortality as I am with my loved ones’ earthly demise. I have been struggling a bit with the no longer dormant knowledge that the chances of losing several dear ones in my lifetime are extremely great. The fact of the matter is this: Whether a person lives to be two, one hundred and two, or somewhere in between – life on earth is microscopic in comparison to eternity. Pondering these thoughts got to be somewhat exhausting, but this is where God’s timing is no accident.

Yesterday – and I mean YESTERDAY – I was reading The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Truth In God by Dallas Willard when the following words, undoubtedly meant for me at this time, jumped off the pages: “So as we think of our life and make plans for it, we should not be anticipating going through some terrible event called ‘death,’ to be avoided at all costs even though it can’t be avoided. That is the usual attitude for human beings, no doubt. But, immersed in Christ in action, we may be sure that our life – yes, that familiar one we are each so well acquainted with – will never stop.”

The Christian author continues his take on the topic of death with, “How then are we to think about the transition? Failure to have a way of thinking about it is one of the things that continues to make it dreadful even to those who have every confidence in Jesus. The unimaginable is naturally frightening to us.” Mr. Willard then relays a superb picture as to what a Christ follower can expect when leaving his or her earthly body. The depicted, and I think comforting, scene is that of a woman who walks to a doorway between two rooms.

The author conveys, “While still interacting with those in the room she is leaving, she begins to see and converse with people in the room beyond, who may be totally concealed from those left behind. They come to meet us while we are still in touch with those left behind. The curtains part for us briefly before we go through.” Dallas Willard ends his enlightening view on the subject of death with this simple, yet profound statement: “It will be our birthday into God’s full world.” Just what I needed at this particular time in my life. Thank you, God!