I'm going to die.
Not right now. At least, not that I know of. But I am going to die, and you are, too. That's just a fact of life.
I find that as I've grown older I think about my own mortality more often. My mother used to say, "We start dying as soon as we're born." There's a certain truth to that. Every one of us is here only temporarily. Each of us is as permanent as an early morning fog.
How fragile we are! Here one moment and gone the next. The tragedy of a sudden death is that one doesn't get the chance to tie up loose ends, to mend fences long broken, or tell loved ones just how much they mean to us. During seven years as a hospice chaplain I came to consider a terminal diagnosis a "severe mercy" (to borrow from C.S. Lewis to his friend Sheldon Vanauken).
Death has no perils for those who know Christ; the "king of terrors" has been defeated. Early Christians spoke of death as "sleep." The Apostle Paul referred to his imminent execution simply as his "departure." I like that term.
I'm on a journey through what John Bunyan called "the wilderness of this world." Born in the City of Destruction, my citizenship in the Celestial City is now registered in the Book of Life where my King and Redeemer reigns in eternal light beyond the Dark River. My birth certificate is the Bible and my passport the Cross.
I think it appropriate Jesus' resurrection occurred in the spring of the year, as new life comes forth from the deadness of winter. Because of what he has done for us through his death and resurrection we may be sure of our own awakening in the eternal springtime of a new heaven and new earth. I hope you have that assurance. If not, I implore you to repent and come to Jesus now. He's the only one who can give it and he gives it freely and joyfully. No sincere seeker is refused.
Happy Easter!