Are You Ready?

The Labor Day weekend has come and gone. I’m sure there were many of you that went away for the long weekend or had a backyard barbecue. Labor Day typically signifies the final days of summer where we all want to get in one last hurrah before getting on with fall and winter. But for Rick and me, the Labor Day weekend brought sadness as we learned of two friends who had passed away.

Doug was one of the guys who went to welding school with Rick. He kept in touch with Rick almost every day.  Jenna was a lady from our church family in Illinois and since moving away I only interacted with her through Facebook.

Both were too young to die. Doug was 34; Jenna was 52.

Both deaths were unexpected and shocking. Doug died in a jail in Oklahoma after being arrested for public intoxication; Jenna died alone peacefully while sitting in a chair in her home in Illinois.

When situations like this happen, the first question you want to ask is why? But that is a question only God can answer. So instead, I decided to look at these two deaths to see if I can use what happened to help answer another question, “Are you ready?”

Doug was a good guy who didn’t always make the right choices. His happiness seemed to be a result of what was happening in his life.  He tried to improve his life by going to welding school and learning a trade, but in the end he wound up losing his wife and daughter in divorce, losing his job, taking up with a woman too soon after his divorce who wasn’t good for him, ignoring help and advice from his friends and using alcohol to temporarily bury his troubles.

Jenna was a sweet lady who loved her family and friends and was loved in return. She loved the Lord and her church family and had a heart to serve God. When she was diagnosed with colon cancer, she trusted Jesus to heal her. She always had a smile on her face and was a positive and optimistic person.

Here you have two very different people that had one thing in common on the day of their death…they didn’t know it was their last day to live. They didn’t know they had no more time left. They didn’t know they were leaving their friends and family behind. They didn't know they had no more chances to say "I love you."  They didn’t know and neither will you when your time comes.  

A few weeks ago my pastor asked this question during his sermon, “What would you do if you knew Jesus was coming again tomorrow?” This question screamed at me as a born again believer. The Bible says that as a disciple of Christ, I must go and tell others that Jesus can forgive them of their sin and save them from eternal damnation in hell, and that by accepting God’s free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ they can have eternal life in heaven. Once Jesus comes again, it will be too late. Well, I can tell you that I did not take the pastor’s question to heart until now. For Doug and Jenna life is over. It's too late for me to ask them "Are you ready?"

In a telephone call, Doug’s dad told Rick that Doug had a peaceful look on his face and he was sure he was headed in the right direction. And if you knew Jenna, you would believe that today she is in the arms of Jesus in Heaven. But it is not for me to say who is going to heaven and who is going to hell. Only God knows what was in the hearts of these two friends.

So today I ask you “Are you ready?”  


Blessings and hugs,

~ P

If you would like information that will show you how you can become a child of God, please click here:  Four Spiritual Laws.