death

Just a couple hours later, I heard the news that Farrah Fawcett, the actress, had lost her long battle with breast cancer. I recalled having watched her in TV shows and movies, growing from merely a sex-symbol actress into one who carried some very dramatic roles with grace and expertise. 

Not long after that, I learned that my buddy Rich, just four days after we were able to visit with him, is in the hospital again, with problems breathing. Now, we've been here before, but this time the plan is to send him home with hospice care. This news by far affected me the most, simply because I know Rich and Connie and while I haven't met Aimee and Trek, my heart aches for them. 

As I headed out to our E.S.C.A.P.E. camp at church last night, I heard the news that Michael Jackson had been rushed to the hospital, suffering from a cardiac arrest. Later I learned that he died. 

On the way to church, I heard on the radio about a bad wreck right on the highway between me and church. I was keeping an eye out for it, when I saw the helicopter from the University of Tennessee Medical Center landing right in the highway. That means major trauma. I have no idea what the condition of that person was or is now. 

Yesterday seems like it was filled with death and despair. The Truth, however, is that death does not win. I don't know if Farrah or Michael or the person on the motorcycle in the wreck had a relationship with Christ or not. I do know that Rich does. A very healthy one. And that means, when he leaves this world, in the next one he'll be sitting and chatting with Jesus. I can just imagine the conversations! They will just be continuations of the ongoing ones started here. I can hear Rich saying, "Yay!" when he hears something he likes. 

Life is going on all around us. So is death. Rather than wallow in the inevitability of death, I choose to live and share my life with others. I choose to live before them hope and joy.