Hope

One of the members of our church passed away yesterday. Jim had been chronically ill most of the time we have been here, and we didn’t have the chance to get to know him really well. I did have him in my classes from time to time and know that he appreciated in-depth study in the Bible and enjoyed being with his church family.
Jim passed from this life in peace, with those who loved him and those he loved around and near. The journey was made difficult by his illness, but was anticipated and embraced due to his love of God and Jesus Christ.
I have witnessed many deaths over the years I worked in EMS and in hospitals. Some were young; many were older. Death didn’t seem to care. Some were friends. Some were relatives. Some were folks I didn’t know. Many times I witnessed heroic efforts to save that person’s life. Often, I participated in that effort. Sometimes I was just there as there was no point in taking heroic action, or the person or family asked that it not be done.
Sometimes I arrived on scene after someone already had died. Perhaps it was old age; maybe it was an accident of some kind. More than once it was self-inflicted. Again, it seemed that death wasn’t partial to any one group of humans; young, old, male, female—all were equally touched.
For some folks, an old M.A.S.H. episode may describe their view of death. Major Margaret Houlihan, head nurse on the old television series M.A.S.H., is in the operating room in one episode. Someone she has been caring for has just died. She says, “It never fails to astonish me. You’re alive. You’re dead. No drums. No flashing lights. No fanfare. You’re just dead.”
For others, death is a spiritual experience on the highest order. I am one of those people. There is something about the process, about the emotion, about the finality, about the reality of the experience that is unmatched in any other venue. Something beyond what we can see or know is happening, and we know one day it will happen to us. No matter how often we witness death or how often we comfort and serve, we know no more about the process itself than we did before.
I am grateful beyond words for the hope I have that is in Jesus Christ. And I pray when my time comes I will embrace and hold to that hope as I too make the journey.