A crossroads of belief...

Unfortunately, along with many others, I have had to witness the funeral of a teenager this week. I did not know what to expect, how to process, how to feel, or what to say. What I knew was that I had to be present. Would the overwhelming sadness overcome a life lived well? Would the loss overcome the joy that had been? This experience has taught me that death brings out people's true faith; do they believe in the hope of resurrection or does the sting of death still reside as the bottom line in their lives? We must decide because as Dan Eddings reminded us, "God does not promise us that we will always understand, but that he will always be with us." Death is a slap in the face that confronts whether or not we believe these truths that we hold so dear and at such high regards. It's easy to say things that we "believe," it's hard to actually believe them.

No words take away the loss. Loss flows from a deep seedbed of emotions that can never be discounted by anyone because they are each individuals to have. However, I have been thinking along these lines that maybe since death is the one thing that scares humanity so much that that is exactly why Christ became "Immanuel," and that's exactly why the good news has victory over death. The sum of all of our fears resides in our finitude, and Jesus steps in first, saying this is not the end. As I wrap up a few thoughts, I'm reminded by Gungor's song, "This Is Not The End: This is not the end, this is not the end of this, we will open our eyes wide, wider!" There is celebration in death, not for the loss, but for the fulfilled hope that is to come.