Taking the sting out of death and scary things
Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) was a world renowned preacher, author and college president. On his death bed he said, "Earth recedes; heaven opens for me." His son thought he was dreaming and tried to wake him.
Moody assured him he was fully awake sharing, "No, this is no dream…It is beautiful…If this is death, it is sweet. There is no valley here. God is calling me. This is my triumph; my Coronation day!" Shortly thereafter he passed into eternity.
Earlier this week President Carter was admitted to a hospital in Cleveland, a reminder that we all both rich and poor, meek and powerful face the same mortal challenges.
We all have the same questions about life and death and meaning. Yet sometimes we catch glimpses of the unknown in the testimony of people like Dwight Moody or Paul of Tarsus who assured his readers that he had seen and known "inexpressible things" (2 Corinthians 12) about what lay beyond deaths door.
In fact, earlier he wrote to the church in Corinth that death was like a bee sting and nothing more compared to the all encompassing love and grace of God expressed in the gospel.
Perhaps few stories have been as moving as that of Steve Sawyer. As a teenage he received a contaminated blood transfusion. Soon thereafter he was diagnosed with the AIDS virus. With his health failing he spent his final years traveling the globe to talk to tens of thousands of people about the love of Christ.
Shortly before his death he shared that his life was marked by many failures and screw ups. But he rest assured that when he stood before his Maker he would say, "I may have messed up, but it doesn't matter because of what You've done for me."
Steve left this mortal coil in the spring of 1999. His mother shares that just before he died; Steve sat up in bed and said, "Wow!"
It was to this same end that E. H. Hamilton wrote when concerned friends asked him if he was afraid to enter a foreign country as a missionary with all of the unknown dangers that would lie ahead. In reply he wrote:
Afraid? Of What?
To feel the spirit's glad release?
To pass from pain to perfect peace,
The strife and strain of life to cease?
Afraid - of that?
Afraid? Of What?
Afraid to see the Savior's face
To hear His welcome and to trace
The glory gleam from wounds of grace?
Afraid - of that?
Afraid? Of What?
The words of the brave go before us whether we are facing illness or bankruptcy, life or death or any other thing. They witness to God's faithful presence and to the promise that in all things there is nothing to fear.
Moody assured him he was fully awake sharing, "No, this is no dream…It is beautiful…If this is death, it is sweet. There is no valley here. God is calling me. This is my triumph; my Coronation day!" Shortly thereafter he passed into eternity.
Earlier this week President Carter was admitted to a hospital in Cleveland, a reminder that we all both rich and poor, meek and powerful face the same mortal challenges.
We all have the same questions about life and death and meaning. Yet sometimes we catch glimpses of the unknown in the testimony of people like Dwight Moody or Paul of Tarsus who assured his readers that he had seen and known "inexpressible things" (2 Corinthians 12) about what lay beyond deaths door.
In fact, earlier he wrote to the church in Corinth that death was like a bee sting and nothing more compared to the all encompassing love and grace of God expressed in the gospel.
Perhaps few stories have been as moving as that of Steve Sawyer. As a teenage he received a contaminated blood transfusion. Soon thereafter he was diagnosed with the AIDS virus. With his health failing he spent his final years traveling the globe to talk to tens of thousands of people about the love of Christ.
Shortly before his death he shared that his life was marked by many failures and screw ups. But he rest assured that when he stood before his Maker he would say, "I may have messed up, but it doesn't matter because of what You've done for me."
Steve left this mortal coil in the spring of 1999. His mother shares that just before he died; Steve sat up in bed and said, "Wow!"
It was to this same end that E. H. Hamilton wrote when concerned friends asked him if he was afraid to enter a foreign country as a missionary with all of the unknown dangers that would lie ahead. In reply he wrote:
Afraid? Of What?
To feel the spirit's glad release?
To pass from pain to perfect peace,
The strife and strain of life to cease?
Afraid - of that?
Afraid? Of What?
Afraid to see the Savior's face
To hear His welcome and to trace
The glory gleam from wounds of grace?
Afraid - of that?
Afraid? Of What?
The words of the brave go before us whether we are facing illness or bankruptcy, life or death or any other thing. They witness to God's faithful presence and to the promise that in all things there is nothing to fear.
