I really enjoyed Pastor Ken’s message from last Sunday. Not that I don’t enjoy the others, but this one touched me deeply because fear of death was what made start searching for answers.
When he talked about our duty to please God, the Beatles’ song “Please please me” came to mind, thinking I should write about please, please God. Then he talked about how different and great out lives in the Kingdom will be and I thought about Sinead O Connor’s song “Nothing compares.” But then, as he talked about funerals and mentioned that death is not the end but the beginning of something, my history nerd kicked in.
During World War 2, back in the Fall of 1942 Winston Churchill, then Primer Minister of Great Britain, received the news of a victory in Egypt. One of his advisors, perceiving this was a turn in the tide in the war against the Germans, told Churchill to ring the bells of the churches in London. Churchill answered by saying “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
Most people see death as the end. I used to think that. When I was a child, after going to several funerals of some relatives within a short period of time, I asked my mother “What happens when you die?” Her answer shocked me when she told me “You go to sleep forever, there is nothing more.” I got really scared and I began to fear going to sleep. I would hold on trying not to fall asleep because I was afraid of what would happen if I never woke up.
The Bible clearly says death is the end of the beginning because then we will start our eternal life. 2 Corinthians 5:2 says, “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.” How long do we get to live on this earth? Hopefully, as long as Bill Deppe, who is almost 100! But the Bible says we will get to live forever! That is a much, much longer time.
Do I have a healthy respect for death? You betcha! I want to see my little girl become a grown woman. I want to spend as much time as I can with my wife. I want to do so many things I have done yet. That is why I am careful. Lately, I have even been counting how many steps I take during a day to make sure I stay healthy. However, the idea of death is not something that brings fear but hope.
We don’t need to fret because this earthly life is, for sure, just the end of the beginning.
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