Choices

It seems I am forever perusing bookstores, and yesterday was no exception.  I came across a book entitled “One Minute after You Die”.   This had been recommended to me by our installer, Mark.  He and his wife had a son fighting in Afghanistan last February (2010) and on the 16^th, Noah stepped on an IED and lost his earthly life. Mark remarked about the comforts this book afforded him.  The author of the book paints a picture of a curtain that separates our lives from those of the departed.  The brief scenario I read, and will describe in a bit, left me desperate to relay this information.  It painted a picture of the departed as being able to look backwards wishing to convey the knowledge they now know as a warning.  For whatever reason this resonated with me, I’m heeding it to the best of my ability.

Recently I was speaking with a friend, whose two sons died within 16 months of each other.  They were in their mid-20s.  This friend and I have engaged in some pretty amazing dialogues and one of them was about knowing “where” our loved ones (especially our kids) stand in their faith.  We both don’t know and it is a pretty daunting realization!

Faith is a personal issue.  You can teach about it, you can try to live it, but the one thing you can’t do is force it.  When I was my kids’ ages, I was pretty cavalier,  I thought I was invincible and I really didn’t think too much about God or Jesus or the need to make sure that I was on the bedrock of belief.  I was too interested in partying, getting married, having kids, and working.  I was totally wrapped up in me and my life.

Let me give you an example from the book about  our choice….., please note this is my interpretation of what was written…

You are walking down a dark road; it is cold, and foreboding.  The sounds you hear are disconcerting, scary, conjuring up images of thugs waiting to mug you.  Rain starts to fall and if possible it seems to get colder and you find yourself being chilled to the bone, there is nowhere to turn for warmth or to get out of the elements, you just keep moving in a line with others, it is bleak without hope…..  It is gloomy!

You are walking on a bright spring day.  The temperature is a perfect 75 degrees, neither too hot, nor too cold.  There is a light breeze (built in for those of us who like to run).  The blossoms of the flowers are just budding; the tree leaves are just unfolding.  The day beckons with promise.  It is sunny and seems joyful.

Ok, you have a choice on the above scenarios, which do you choose? 

Overly simplistic you think?  So be it, but it shows the two extremes rather poignantly! And this is just how the opening pages of the book “One Minute after You Die” opens.  This is our choice for the hereafter, to spend our days in the promise of hope or be forever relegated to gloom and doom. 

This scares me to no end therefore I’m sharing this difficult passage with anyone who thinks that faith is something that they will just deal with later.  I don’t understand things, like how a 6, 7, 8 year old can decide to give their life to God, because they don’t have life experience.  I’m not knocking that they do, but I’m left to wonder, why I, who received an upbringing in a church and went to catechism classes, never felt this at that tender age.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to be experiencing it now, but why not at a younger age?  No, my kids did not grow up with the solid background of a faith.  Unfortunately, I was too unmotivated and lazy.  I looked around and thought my earthly examples of what I deemed to be “right” living was enough for them.  I was and am sadly mistaken.  I can’t undo what I’ve done, but I can write and let them know that I made a grave mistake and that I’m sorry.  I can pray that they see the error of my ways and don’t make the same mistakes I made and then, I can turn this mess I’ve created over to God and let Him counsel them.  The song “In better hands now” by Natalie Grant just came on…..the opening lines; it is hard to stand on shifting sand. Hmmm.   Brent, Brooke, make sure the foundation of your life is on firm ground.  Build on stability not the whims of passion.  Please don’t wait until you face a crisis to ask God to come into your lives.  If you constantly turn your back on Him, why should He not turn His back on you?  His love is not conditional, He sent His Son for all of us, because we are imperfect.  He understands and knows us, better than we know ourselves.  Still, He craves a friendship with us.  Final thought, would you ask a stranger to lend you a hand and expect him to do it?  No?  Yet, you would ask a friend and your friend would go above and beyond to help you.  Let God be your friend.  It isn’t about the rules, don’t let “rules” scare you away, it is truly about a relationship!  You will NEVER regret the relationship, especially when you get to choose the promise of an eternal lifetime of sunny days.

Looking up!~Barb