‘Death stares at every one of us in the face, the best we can do is to stare back’. I’ve really forgotten where I got that line from…may be ‘Gladiators’. It takes death to bring me out of my ‘blogoholiday’. A friend just died this morning. He was actually one of the leaders in my church. Murray Aldridge was a man of faith and passion. His love for Jesus is contagious, even when he was sick. As I heard that he passed this morning, I decided to listen to one his sermons, ‘Do you know how to die’, (you can listen to it here), he preached just few months before he was diagnosed of cancer. He spoke about preparing for the afterlife, and living a life that puts the eternal life in constant remembrance. One of the catching phrases from the sermon is
‘can I suggest that the only place where someone will tell you how to prepare to die is the Church of Jesus, and if we are not doing that we are not doing our job.’
That is a fundamental truth. Murray has confronted what all of us cannot escape. Every minute we spend is a minute less than the deadline we have with eternity. It really matters how we prepare for the life afterward, more than career, money, power, influence, prestige or name,. The last time I was with him, he radiated such a hope and strength that stems from his confidence in the One he has trusted in this life and the One he knows will be with him now.
Where I come from, talking about death is a taboo. It’s a subject you can only think but not mention. But I’ve always differ from that. I want to live my everyday life in preparation for it. That’s one of the reason I trusted Jesus with my life. Yet, I do not wait for death, rather I live to die, in order to die to live. I live a full life, and enjoy what I am given, give back what I can, and make as many impact as I can. I want to live a life void of the fear of death. Life in abundance. I believe that is what gave Murray the hope I saw in him the last I visited him.
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