The unexpected...

2 Corinthians 5:6-10

⁶ So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. ⁷ For we live by believing and not by seeing. ⁸ Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. ⁹ So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. ¹⁰ For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.

This past Friday started out much like any other. I went to work, helped the gentleman I work with get ready to go and took him out the door. I dropped him off for his routine Friday appointment, and half an hour later, he was gone from this world.

It was surreal. One moment, he was laughing and smiling, the next, he was gone. Just...like...that.

The above promise from the Apostle Paul is so commonly read at Funerals, but I think the last bit is the most important. Yes, we who have put our trust in Jesus Christ have a blessed hope that we are being sanctified through His blood and will be together with him when we die; but what does that matter if we have not truly lived for Him.

A couple of weeks back, I was heading to an appointment and I ended up behind a funeral procession and it was one of the saddest things I ever saw. Aside from the hearse and the limo, there were only six vehicles in the procession, and they only had one or two people in each. Only six. Now, I don't know the details, perhaps it was a young child who had passed, or perhaps someone who was so old at the time of their death that most of their friends and relatives had gone on ahead of them, but it was still a powerful image to me:

When I die, will I be remembered only by a few, or will I have such an impact for the cause of Christ that my memory will not soon fade? I know when my dad passed away nearly ten years ago now, there was a memorial service in one of the largest churches in Springfield, Mass that was standing room only. A young man whom I had the privilege of serving as a youth leader recently left his pastorate, wife, young son and family behind, and they had to book a bigger church just to hold all the people who went to his memorial service. Both men had an immense impact on those around them because they looked to the cause of Christ, not to themselves.

Now, don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to say I want a huge memorial service when the Father sees fit to call me home. What I'm saying is, I want to have lived my life so much for the cause of Christ that my life will be of value. I'm a person who doesn't really like a lot of attention; one who is content to just do what needs to be done and love and serve the people around me. I don't think I'm really cut out to be a pastor of a church, though I am gifted to teach. I enjoy writing and sharing my thoughts with my small audience of friends and family, and I believe that has merit. I enjoy working with the youth at church and working with the various folks at Friendship Community whom I have been honored to serve for nearly eight years.

Yet I wonder: am I doing enough? It's not that I think I will lose my eternal hope of salvation because I'm not doing enough. I suppose it's more a feeling of; "am I adequate? Am I doing everything I can?" Really, I don't know, but I do know that God has used me to touch some lives in a positive way, and for that I am thankful.

As for my friend who passed out of this life into the next just two days past, I look at his life, and it was vibrant. He lived to serve other people, and he will be remembered. Perhaps I will be remembered for the same, but I hope the honor is not given to me, but rather to Jesus Christ whom I serve.