DEATH

Death
If you should take my child Lord
Give my arms strength to dig his grave
Cover him with earth
Lord send a little rain
For, grass will grow

For those of us who love true stories you may want to check out this movie that I watched sometime ago in ntv, o.k. don’t seem to remember the title...it was eh em... well forgive me folks, my memory bank is doing it again…. Well never mind that I am digressing, just a little bit. Allow me to describe it; maybe one of you may know its title.

The movie based on a true story was about Andre; a baby seal. Andre was taken in by an animal lover and he grew up fondly attached to his adopted family but the climax was the bond Andre had with Toni, the baby girl of that family. The pair were inseparable. This resulted in the duo sharing the good and the bad times, such that Andre even adapted various human habits like watching television, playing basketball, dancing and many more tricks. All that made Andre a national celebrity, thanks to Toni, his companion for life. The presence of Andre metamorphosed the little shoreline town into the biggest tourist attraction.

Circumstances however proved to overwhelm the duo, such that it became a painful reality that despite their strong bond, Andre could not take up lifetime residence at his adoptive home. Toni was devastated when Andre had to be taken to an aquarium where he could be taken care of better. Painfully, she reluctantly let him be taken after being re-assured that she could visit Andre whenever.

I was moved to tears when Toni after a couple of years later, realized that Andre needed freedom and she had to make the most painful decision of her life. She let Andre go. Yes, with the full knowledge that it could be the last time she ever saw the only friend she knew. Her love for Andre was worth the hurt. To all animal lovers out there, I know it struck a cord.

I’ve witnessed first hand to the emotional breakdown of letting a favorite pet go back to the wild. But sadder, the trauma of losing a cherished pet to death. To kids, it’s the beginning of the tormenting questions. To parents, it’s the start of enigmatic response that drums in resigned acceptance of death.

It is the death of a loved one however that throws the living into an abyss of emotional trauma. Losing a loved one hurts so deeply to the point that others totally shut off or are forever changed after a sting of death.
It strikes all. It knows no bounds. Its un-quenchable appetite, plus its unpredictability makes it the one event that paralyses the living with fear so much that though many great verses have been written on death. It’s still talked of in hush tones. To most communities around here, it is still a bad omen to even mention it.

It is with the death of a child, a spouse or a lover that nails harder the fact that we are all pilgrims in this world; Sojourners to a better world.

“When one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the
Book, but translated into a better language; and every
Chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators;
Some pieces translated by age, some by sickness, some by war,
Some by justice; but God’s hand is in every translation, and
His hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that
Library where every book shall lie open to one another…….

As I write this piece, the earth is still red on the grave of my dear friend David. Even as I spell out my sorrow, the questions never end. The pain of death pierces each time you lose a loved one. I'm yet to hear one accustomed to the chilling news of the demise of a loved one. It simply has no resistance pill however many times the dose of death you swallow.

Following these events, a slow revelation made me view death differently and I pray that it will change yours too, if only it may offer a better understanding next time it strikes, for to many, you never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.

Just letting Andre go hurt, losing David hurt even deeply. Now imagine how much it must have hurt God to let His One and Only Son to be pierced as a ransom, to correct man’s Great Fall! How many times we Christians fail to reflect on that? Or even allow its full meaning to sink in. If for us, creatures that exploited God’s freedom love our dear ones so much to hurt that badly when we loose them, imagine how much more for one who was pure and blameless!

Picture this; say one of your colleagues commits a crime. For their sake, your boss takes the blame though fully innocent and hence faces execution (ok, execution is abit on the extreme but you get the point). Well, ask yourself, are you worth that sacrifice? My sister, are you? Same to you my brother. Or you continue taking back Christ to the cross by your continued sinning…….I have fallen short of His love myself many times but He still calls me His own.

Amidst the by-ways, whose terminus is often nothing at all….where the mysteries call us onward, and the shy nightingales sing, and the stress of life is lifted off, and the ticking of time is still. Where life seems larger because of silence and calm, where the soul may be invaded and taken captive, unresisting, by the powers of the world to come. That’s when death knows on your chambers. Will you be ready?

His love for you was tougher than the nails. What are you doing to acknowledge that love? Remember all He asks is for you to go to Him. Jesus is the way to the Father, where the sting of death has been swallowed up in victory…….
Allow me to stop there today; I leave you with this verse. John 3:16.
Lots of love!