By Lamont H. Fuchs, Ed. D.
excerpt from Preacher Spurs, Christian Faith Publishers, 2022
WHY ME? Far too many people have looked up at the ceiling in pain with that question on their minds. Fortunately, they are the ones who did not suffer the worst. A minister never wants to become morbid about it, but instead, they must stay compassionate for those who are hurt. Never become numb with continually being amid those who are faced with tribulation and need to call on a Savior that can help with His divine grace and mercy. The mission of BikerDownLiftedUp is to lead them to Jesus and His strength, His comfort, and His healing, both physically and spiritually. Sometimes God provides an opportunity to help them answer that ultimate question they all ask eventually. WHY ME? Ask them if they think they have had…a Close Call when they ask that.
Have you ever had a Close Call?
Have you have ever had a close call with death?
That is what a close call means to many of us. But, has the angel of death ever knocked on your door sometime in your Life and nearly called you away?
There are many ways we face death – Again, I do not mean to get all doom and gloom. It is not a favorite topic for most people. But we see it all the time, don’t we? We do not like talking about it much. We even take it for granted sometimes. We cheapen what death is.
Like on TV or the movies, we see people getting killed or murdered and amuse ourselves with the story, the drama…even comedy. We make jokes when we see the hero kill hundreds of bad guys and save the world.
How many kills did you count? Do you know what movie has the most kills in it? Someone has kept count. The actor, writer, producer, and director, Mel Gibson, is best known for the number of ways a director can film, in complete detail, a person being killed in battle or by nature.
We get all enthralled by the plot, the means, the impact on the lives of those in the story. Sometimes it excites us, and sometimes it brings a tear to our eye. Sometimes it is very unpleasant.
Have you ever watched those crime drama documentaries about the murder of someone or overdosed or become enthralled with the autopsy of some celebrity and how they died? The mystery of their last hours. I have heard more passion from a backyard mechanic working on their truck.
Do those shows bring you to ‘Face Death?’ Or were you bored with the details or disgusted with how people just threw away their lives on dangerous living, drugs, vanity, or lust? Amusing, isn’t it how we can watch sin so unfazed these days?
I heard a quote the other day that rings true. “What was once shunned and hidden in the dark alleys is now openly displayed in our living rooms and broad daylight on Main Street.”
Dramas and movies about the tragedies of war and catastrophes of nature are sometimes entertaining; they might even be accurate and historically relevant, but rarely does it draw us face to face with our mortality.
Let us talk about real life and death that are relevant to us. Personally. Tragic deaths and tragic stories of death. The ones we read about – Are you moved by the deaths you hear about on the news? The car accidents, shootings, murders, tree fallings, drownings – I mean even with all the deaths from hurricanes or tornadoes, floods – or those who lost their lives in the California fires. What about all those who died of Covid 19? Did any of those deaths come close to you? Did or do you know any of the victims? Do you have family or friends, or even a friend of a friend who was affected by one of those kinds of tragedies? Did any of those deaths touch your heart?
My son and his family escaped the dangerous onslaught of a recent storm. They were in a remote beach house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. But, if they had not heeded the potential danger, and if they had not listened to the warnings, and if they had waited just another hour before they left while the tide and storm surge was rising if they would not have got out and swept by the storm if they could not find gas…IF…IF…IF.
We all have someone we love, and when we see them faced with death, we think about the separation that will come from a death of a loved one, even if it is ourselves – it makes most of us sad to think about that.
And now we are getting close to home. The death we face in Life. The most intimate kind. Actual death – the kind that impacts us personally. Sometimes we face death when it involves a close friend, a loved one, a family member, or someone we knew at work or school who was here one day and gone the next. A classmate, military buddy, or an old friend or relative you grew up with. We know people who have had a close call, an accident, or hospitalization due to an illness of some kind. You know that whoever that person was, they faced death. Some of us may be facing death right now.
So, how do you face death? Maybe we need to realize we are all faced with death every day. God makes no promises to us for tomorrow.
1Thessalonians 4:13 says, “But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope.”
I have hope – My hope is in Jesus. That is how I face death. With hope. Do you have hope? What is your hope?
We have biblical examples of facing death, and one of the best is how Jesus faced death.
I believe He saw it wherever He was, wherever He went. He saw it all around Him. He talked about death as much as He spoke of Life. And like us, when He faced His death, He showed us much about Himself through the Word left for us to see how to face our death. He prayed in the garden.
