What Do I Know

On Saturday night, our congregation lost another dear member to cancer. It seems like death and cancer are flourishing like dandelions in June lately. This man had been diagnosed with cancer about a year and a half ago. For awhile, he seemed to be doing really well; and part of me thought that he would pull through just fine, that the Lord wouldn't take him. But the Lord's thoughts and plans are so different than ours.

Through this recent death, I was reminded of the shortness of life: "'All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass.'" (Isaiah 40:6-7)

I was convicted yet again to make the most of the time and opportunities the Lord gives to us. Within the last few weeks, this man from our congregation had been put on hospice. I thought that the least I could do was send a card, letting him and his wife know that they were both in my thoughts and prayers if I didn't make a visit. Saturday morning, as I enjoyed a long walk in the February thaw, I was nudged yet again to visit or send a card . . . but by Saturday night, it was already too late. Why didn't I do this when first prompted weeks before?

"Therefore be careful how you walk, no as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil . . ." (Ephesians 5:15-16)

And still, I am encouraged to know that this dear man is no longer enduring any pain. He is cancer-free, pain-free, and rejoicing in the presence of Jesus our Messiah! What a glorious, fantastic place to be! Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). And to the Philippians that: "To live is Christ, to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21).

Sara Groves sings it well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZSg5oLBv7A

We don't know why the Lord chooses to call someone home when He does. We don't know why He chooses to take them in the ways that He does. We don't know much at all. But, as Sara Groves sang, what we do know - being with the Lord - is indeed very good.