Being Ready...

(Written a couple of weeks ago for our local newspaper, but pertinent...)

I said goodbye to him on Friday evening at 5pm—hale and hearty. I stood beside his open casket on Saturday at 4pm. 

No accident took him, no act of violence, he simply went to bed and never woke up. I told him I would call again soon, but when I did it was to take his funeral. 

Death comes uninvited, unexpected, at times, but seldom have I been in such proximity to its sudden appearance. 

So hard for loved ones to take in. Yet it is the experience of many—an accident on the road or at work; a tragedy unfolds out of nowhere. 

I was reminded of these words from Scripture:

The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong… 
but time and chance happen to them all.

Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:
As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so people are trapped by evil times
that fall unexpectedly upon them. (Ecclesiastes 9:11,12)

Time and chance happen to us all—no one knows when their hour will come. Evil times fall unexpectedly. How do you live in such a world?

Cram in all you can? Live in denial?

Death still wins... doesn’t it? 

But what if there was a way to beat death, even as it seems to win? To snatch life from the jaws of death? The writer of Ecclesiastes comes to his answer—it’s a bigger one than we imagine. 

He says: “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth before the days of trouble come…. Remember Him—before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken.” (12:1,6) 

We have one life. It is a beautiful thing, a thing of value—a silver cord, a golden bowl—filled with personality, character, gifts and graces. Every life is an artwork—and for it to be unexpectedly severed or smashed is awful. Death is a brutal vandal, a destroyer and a thief of what is beautiful.

...the unfairness of death and the uncertainty of life...

But there is an answer. The answer to the unfairness of death and the uncertainty of life is to be ready for both. Remember your Creator—the reason each life is a work of art is because there is an Artist. Remember Him—too often we live as if we were self-made. But the Creator who made us is the one who can remake us.

The Bible tells how the Creator stepped in to his creation to take on death and judgment—to have his own silver cord of life severed, only to defeat death, restoring the silver cord of his own life. And now he offers to restore the silver cord of all who would place their trust in Him.  

That’s why Jesus, the Creator-become-Saviour, said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” (John 11:25) His resurrection is no myth or fairy story, but an historical reality which becomes the anchor of hope for all who would entrust themselves to Him. 

There is a way to be ready. Death might catch us unawares, but it doesn’t have to catch us unprepared. “Remember your Creator-become-Saviour—before the silver cord is severed…”

That word ‘before’ is vital—the only day you can be sure of is today. Don’t waste it. 

Death might catch us unawares, but it doesn’t have to catch us unprepared.