This post will mostly just be stream-of-consciousness writing. I learned tonight that Ted, a friend from my old lifegroup, was killed in a motorcycle accident. (I didn't know him very well, but he was outgoing and funny and kind, and I followed a video blog he made for a while about his weight loss journey, which I know takes courage.) I got the text from Chet on my drive back from MWC tonight, and it shook me up (and made me put my phone down pretty quickly). Even when you're not especially close, it's always jarring to hear of someone in the younger age range dying. I'm very thankful that he was a Christian.
...Tomorrow is my Dad's birthday - I drove home today to celebrate that with the fam, and we had a great time - Happy Birthday, Dad!!
...Sadly, it also marks the one-year anniversary of Jenni Kufahl's death following a long battle with cancer. She was the daughter of a CHA coach and teacher and the wife of another beloved CHA coach, as well as the mother of 7 young children. Keep their family in your prayers.
Today is 2 weeks and one day after baby Diesel's 1st birthday. His older brother, Anthony, died only two weeks after his 1st birthday, so this is significant and likely a bittersweet emotional time for my cousin.
With all of the above, plus the Planned Parenthood videos and the LifeChurch sermon on About Time, I've had all kinds of deep thoughts lately about death and life and life being short and life after death! After seeing a post from Sarah about how people avoid end-of-life discussions, I randomly printed and filled out an Advance Directive and shared it with my family last week. To say the least, thinking or talking about death does not scare me. I genuinely think about heaven a lot and look forward to it... reunification and restoration and freedom and wholeness and being fully alive and fully loved and known in all my relationships... truly, everything we enjoy here will be SO much better there!!
But I'm here now. I am here NOW. So are you if you're reading this. And earthly life is short, and God wants to use us here to draw more people to know Him before they die!
I'm praying for more strength to be the woman God wants me to be - to fully step into what He has for me here and make a real difference for His kingdom! Yes, there is grief and loss and sin and pain and heartache here on earth, but there are also seasons of amazing joy and community and healing and hope! Life can be breathtakingly beautiful sometimes. And all the good things we see here are only partial, like a little preview of what we'll get to experience in heaven... so I'm pretty excited about that! =)
Because heaven awaits us, for real. Perfect love and joy are coming! Keep pressing in and pressing forward with God... your heart matters so deeply to Him, and your obeying Him may matter eternally to many others. Don't let the past define you, but redirect your thoughts to becoming the strong person God created you to be and making the most of your one extraordinary life here on earth!! (Talking to myself.)
"March on, my soul; be STRONG! ...May all who love You be like the sun when it rises in its strength." ~Judges 5:21,31
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