The Message At Pizza Lane

I was enjoying a salad recently at Pizza Lane when it caught my eye.  While sitting in my booth, I glanced to my left and saw a message someone had written on the wall with a marker.  It was in memory of a loved one.  This was what I saw:

"This was my mom's favorite restaurant. 

We sat here in October 2013. 

She died 3 months later of cancer. 

RIP Josie."

What a sobering reminder.  We can be here today and gone tomorrow.  Death comes knocking and it will not be denied.

Here are a few thoughts on death...

[1]  Death is inevitable.  Unless Jesus comes back first, you and I both are going to die some day.  It will happen.  "It is appointed unto men once to die" is what Hebrews 9:27 tells us.  Ecclesiastes 3:2 is where we read there is "a time to be born and a time to die."  In 1789 Benjamin Franklin wrote "in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."  We are not bulletproof.  Sooner or later, we all are going to die.

[2]  Death does not have to find us lonely.  In my work, I've seen some sad situations.  More than once, I've been called to a home where a body was found that had been dead for a couple of days without anyone knowing about it.  I doubt any of us want to be alone when we die.  The good news is God stays with us when it's our turn to die.  David wrote the following in Psalm 23:4:  "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:  for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."  Even if our family and friends are not with us when death comes knocking, God is.   He's right by our side.  And He will give us the peace and courage we need for the moment.

[3]  Death leads to something else.  Because of my Christian faith, I refuse to believe death is the end.  Far from it!  Death is the door through which we step into the eternal presence of God in Heaven.  Jesus, while talking about Heaven in John 14:1-6, says this about Himself:  "I am the way, the truth, and the life:  no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."  Yes, there is a Heaven.  And the way we get there is through Jesus, the Son of God and Savior of humanity.  When we ask Jesus to forgive our sins and save our souls, we are blessed from above with assurance of a blissful life in Heaven on the other side of the grave. 

Yep, the message at Pizza Lane got me thinking.  It reminded me of an important truth:  Thanks be to God, we do not have to fear death.  Because of Jesus, we can hold on to peace when our time comes.  Amen to that!