Life Support

I sit at my computer today pondering the concept of life and death. I feel uniquely qualified to do this because of my position as pastor, son, and friend. Let me explain. Over the 20+ years I have spent in ministry, I have stood by the bedsides of men and women taking their last breaths. I have stood at the pulpit and spoken words over many of these. I have offered hope and comfort to their families. But right now, I find myself on both the giving and receiving end of things. My 71 year old mother is in a hospital in Kentucky struggling for life hooked up to a ventilator and being fed through a tube. At the same time, the 20 something year old grandson of a church member is experiencing the same thing because of an automobile accident. Isn't it strange that whether one is 20 or 71 we still face the same issue of life and death? Some cry, "Unfair! Why should a 20 year old man in the prime of his life, by all accounts a 'good kid,' be faced with the possibility of death?" But I say, "Death is as much a part of life at 20 as it is at 70." In fact, when an infant is born, death looms large. The slightest mistake by a doctor, the wrong turn of the wheel by a parent, a bad decision by one of the almost 6 billion people on the planet, and death becomes a real possibility. So what on earth can we do? Trust the One who holds the keys of life and death, the One who holds all our tomorrows, the One who faced down death on a cross so that all who would look to Him, could have victory over death, the grave, and hell. His name is Jesus, and there is no other name that brings hope when death approaches.