They say deaths come in threes. I hope they are right because I don’t want to experience the loss of another friend any time soon. Within the last few weeks, three good friends have left this world for a “house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Corinthians 5:1)
One of the friends who died was 99 years old. She had been praying for years that God would take her home. The other two friends were in their 60s, meaning we were contemporaries. Their deaths have caused ENan and me to do some soul-searching, realizing how fragile life is and how blessed we are to be healthy.
Over the past several days, ENan and I have spent time helping one of our friends make the transition from home to hospital to hospice care and to her final resting place. Since our friend chose to be cremated, her body will be reduced to ashes that will fit in a container that fits in the palm of your hand, then set in the ground and marked by a 12x12 stone monument.
My next assignment is to write a eulogy for our friend. Trying to condense 69 years of living into a 200-word obituary or a 10-minute message seems almost disrespectful. There is something in each of us that cries out, “There has to be more!” Surely life consists of more than a handful of ashes and a mouthful of words.
I know the memories of my friends who have died will continue to live on in the hearts and minds of those of us who knew them. We are different people because of their influence on us. But what about the deceased? Are they reduced to memories? The Psalmist declares we are nothing but a “puff of air,” “a breath,” “a vapor,” “shadows in the campfire.” (Psalm 39:5) The rock band, Kansas, laid it out in the early 70s, “Dust in the wind. All we are is dust in the wind.” There must be more!
Jesus spoke to Martha, the grieving sister of his dear friend Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life… Whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26) Life goes on and on for those who place their faith in Christ. Death is not the end but the beginning of something new. Something bigger. Something more!
Jesus then asks Martha, “Do you believe this?” ……. Do you?
-Dr. Jim Baldwin
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