Are You Ready?

When you read my title for this post you might instantly want to finish it with "For Some Football?". For many of us, this iconic song signaled the beginning of fall and the exciting season of that hard hitting game to be seen on a Monday night! That is until some executives somewhere decided it should be Sunday or Thursday or any other day that was not the Monday we were used to! However, now the Monday games are back on and all seems right with the world again! Unfortunately, the world is not all right or back to normal because of something as simple as a tv executive decision. My title for this post actually comes from a statement my husband made last night that got me thinking a lot. We were discussing the impending death of one of the members of our community and Mark made the statement, "I hope he was ready." This was not a judgmental statement but rather just an observation that this was an unexpected happening and that none of us knows for sure when death will greet us. It made me stop and think "Am I ready?"

This life can turn on a dime. You can be on the mountaintop and in the blink of an eye the whole world can change. I'm sure all of you can insert your own example here but here are some of my own. Death of my grandfather of an unexpected heart attack. Life changed forever. Death of a former student soon after his college graduation. Life changed forever. Death of a former student twenty minutes after speaking to her. Life changed forever. Death of my brother from pancreatic cancer. Life changed forever. The truth is this. In this fallen world death is going to come. For all of us. It doesn't matter who you are, where you live, or what you have done in your life. All of us will face this moment eventually and for some sooner than we think. This whole idea of death used to make me shudder. It made me want to change the subject. It made me want to run for my life the other direction. It made me bitter. It made me scream "Unfair!" It scared me.

Then I started to learn something from God that was very valuable.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

I believe this statement with all my heart. For this reason I am ready. I no longer fear death. In fact the idea of living with God and his Son forever and seeing those who believed, that have gone before me is an exciting one. But don't get me wrong. I am not saying that death is easy. I am not saying that those who are left behind don't mourn and suffer. I am not saying that we don't miss those who have died. I am not saying that all my questions about this life and death are answered. What I can say is that each of us can be ready. It is not about who is good or bad. It is not about meeting an agenda of rules or expectations. It is not about understanding everything that goes on in this world. It is not even about you. It is about what God did for us because of his love for us. It is about believing what God says is true. It is about faith. It doesn't rely on logical proof or material evidence. So my question is this. Are you ready?