Faith Expresed: Death And New Life

Today Is Good Friday. A time when Christians gather together to remember the death of Jesus Christ. A time when we come before God on our knees and give thanks for Him sending His Son into the world to suffer and die on a cross so that we may be saved from our own sins. The focus this day is on death and dying.

On this night my brother-in-law who is like a father to me is dying. The leukemia has quickly ravaged his body and the family has been called to the hospital to be by his bedside. Even though he is still conscious, he is very weak, and they don't expect him to last the night. Joel has gone to be there while I am at home too ill to travel. My brother is flying back from Hawaii and hopes to be able to get back in time. The rest of the family has come together in an ICU room in the hospital. The doctors will do what they can to make is comfortable, but his passing is not in there hands now. The family has all been able to be there to pray and share with D. what he means to them. What a blessing for him at the end of his life.

Tonight I was watching Max Lucado on TV and he was actually speaking about death. Stephen Curtis Chapman was also there. Chapmans lost their sweet 5 year old daughter in 2008 to a terrible accident. They spoke about how no one escapes death. We don't usually know when we will die or how, but what we do know is that we are not alone. Tonight I was praying that D. would know he was not alone, that God would be with him when he died. Soon after Lucado spoke, a beautiful woman sang,and in the song was a verse..."God is there...with you in the ICU when the doctors don't know what else to do......" Tonight I have assurance and peace of mind that yes, God is in the ICU with D. and the family. He is here with me, He is with each of us~ only a prayer away.

Good Friday and the death of Christ does not last. There is hope for Easter Sunday and there is hope even as we grief because we believe that we will see those who have died before us once again.