Thursday, November 13, 2008

Certainties

This morning when I woke up I was thinking about certainties. My pastor from Baltimore preached a message called Certain Certainites (probably before I was born but it was such a hallmark it is still being sold). I have listened to that but can't remember it well and am not talking about that. It's easy to think about death when someone so close to you dies. I think it's so weird how I deal with it or maybe how many people deal with it. I am walking down the street with my dog and a leaf blows past me and then all of the sudden something is triggered inside of me. Oh my brother is dead. I haven't talked to him in over four months and I am not going to talk to him again on this earth. I think it's so strange that death is a certainty that WE ALL face but like to pretend it's not there. I think our culture makes things that aren't certain the certainties and things are certain not certainties. It is certain that I must have a mother and father to be created but it's not certain I will have a mother and father in my life. It is certain that I must sleep but it's not certain that my house will be there when I get home. It's certain that I must do something to make money - either fill out government forms to be on welfare, go to work or build a business. It's not certain that my business will be there tomorrow. It may be certain that I love my child with all my heart but it's not certain my child will live through the next hour. Some people look at creation (they don't call it that) as a certainty - the mountains, the oceans - but the grass withers and the flower fades. We all have dreams and part of our humanity believes that it's too inconvenient of a time for us to die. I haven't finished high school yet, I haven't become a teacher yet, I'm not married yet, I don't have children yet, I don't have my PhD yet, my child is still so young, I have plans to travel. I can tell you that my brother had many plans when God took him. We talked about them when I was with him a week before he died. He was planning on selling his house in Rockland and buying a house in Virginia. He was planning on spending the weekends at my house if I moved to Maryland. He had a plane ticket to go marry his fiancee and bring her back to Virginia. He was planning on coming to my cousin's wedding in Maine. Tomorrow or even the next minute is not promised to us. Whether we believe it or not, it is certain there is a God. It is not certain if you will spend eternity with Him. It is certain that all of the prophecies in the Bible have come true and there are still more to come. If you read the Bible, it is certain that God loves you and God has given us a certain way to know Him. God gave His only Son to die, shed His blood and pay for our mistakes past, present and future. It is certain that if we believe on Him, we will spend eternity with Him no matter what our failure is. I like to tell people this life is so short. We can't take our dog with us (I wish), our degrees, our money, or anything but our relationship with God when we die. Shouldn't we get to know Him on this earth? That's my second train of thought after I think my brother is dead. I remind myself that he knew the living God and is in heaven now. I will be with him soon enough.

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