Category: . . . Death & Dying
How a Christian Man Dies
Imagine someone moving across the country to be with you in his or her final days in order to show you how a follower of Jesus dies. That’s what happened to singer and author Michael Card. While a student in college, New Testament scholar William L....
Judge Pyncheon in the Chair: Death with Eyes Open
“This was to have been such a busy day!” Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon, the antagonist in The House of Seven Gables, died with his eyes wide open while sitting in a chair. This striking event filling one entire chapter in the classic by Nathaniel Hawthorne surprises the...
Psalm 23 Revisited: How We Come Into the House of God
We all love Psalm 23. The image of being shepherded by the Great Shepherd through good and difficult times is comforting for the true believer. The first portion is idyllic. Read it again: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie...
The Ramp
“It is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life” (Herman Melville, Moby Dick). It was a beautiful set up. At least it looked beautiful to the two little boys who had made the...
Preparing for the Funeral
My aged aunt suffered from a series of small strokes impairing her former elephantine memory. We cherish the story of the time she attended the funeral of her uncle William. On the way back the car passed the home of the deceased uncle. Her contemplative voice...
Moving to the Head of the Line
My dad had two fears: the nursing home and a long-winded speaker at his funeral. He avoided the first; the jury still debates the second. The call from his apartment building came unexpectedly on Thursday morning. “Your dad has passed out and has no blood pressure.”...
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall – Lie to Me!
It is an exercise in reluctant self-abnegation for me to show my driver’s license. I long for somebody to say, “But that’s not you!” Sadly, it is. As Popeye declares, “I yam what I yam.” And what I “yam” is looking fairly pathetic. Paul had this...
In Spring
As a young man, I never understood an activity that the “older” folk seemed to take some pleasure in doing. But my outlook has changed quite a bit in the last few years. Now, each time I visit a cemetery I am confronted with reminders of...
Cremation or Burial?
There is no sin in cremation, that is for sure. And there is no inability on God’s part to raise a cremated body from the dead. But is cremation, a practice most often seen in Eastern religions, the best for the believer in Christ? It is...
Helping Friends Who Receive The Call We All Dread
It’s happened to all of us. We get a call or an email letting us know that someone we love has a family member in the hospital in serious condition, and we want to help. Our hearts immediately turn to prayer, but along with that, we...
