The one word we try not to think or talk about…

The one word we try not to think or talk about…

If you sit and let your mind wander and you think over a lot of things, I'm just going to take a guess and say that the one thing that most people don't want to think about is death.

Let me say here that I'm one of those, but my view might be somewhat different from a lot of other Christians, because I'm pulled in two different directions. The reason I don't like to talk or think about death is the leaving of my family, and that thought bothers me somewhat. But the other reason that I know it won’t bother me is because that is the only way that I can see the face of my Lord and Savior. So there lies the dilemma.

Have you ever heard of a song called Homesick for Heaven? Well that's the way it ought to be with all Christians — to have that desire to one day be with the one that loved you more that anyone could have. I know he has the whole thing under total control, so with me there is no fear about leaving this earth or what tomorrow might bring. I know that when a lot of people think about this word death, a lot of memories start coming back, and those memories could be about the loss of a family member or a friend, and you remember that day that it happened and it kind of tugs at your heart strings all over again, so you try as you move on through life to not think about it, because as the saying goes time makes it easier to take.

I know that most of you have heard stories where people that died did it quietly and without much pain and just passed from this life into the next one, but also there were those that suffered so much when they died because of cancer or an accident or a number of other things that might bring on death. The ones that had people that died with pain and suffering try hard to not think about it, where the ones that had people that died very soft and tender like to think about it every once in awhile.

I know as I watched my Mother who was in her 80s take her last breath, immediately I knew without a doubt that she had slipped into the arms of Jesus and was past all the worries and hardships of life itself. And that is that comfort feeling that I was talking about when it comes to death, even though you hated so much to let them go because you loved them so much.

The biggest thing about death is when that person or person's takes that last breath and you know for sure of where that person took the next step, whether it was “up there” or “down there” makes it a lot easier if you believe that they went up there because of the life they lived here.

Now we come to the most famous death of all, and it was on a cross a long time ago, and there was a lot of suffering that took place with that death, and that is the only death with suffering that we can think about and feel so good about it, because it was because of you and me that the death had to take place.

I know that a lot of you have lost children to death and how much it broke your heart and you probably more that most know that it is a different kind of pain and it's something that you know that you will never be completely over.

Now you know what God must have felt when he gave his only son to die that horrible death that day, and it was because of something that his son was not guilty of. There is one thing about death that I believe, and that is when a Christian dies, God sends some of his angels in heaven to come here and escort that precious soul back to him, but I also believe that when a lost person dies Old Satan sends some of his angels out of hell to come and get what belongs to him.

I have had in my lifetime been told some stories about both ways and the one that Satan claims has a terrible feeling to go with that death. I had a man tell me one time that in a hospital room one time that a man died and he knew this man was lost because all of his life he talked against God and for sure he wanted nothing to do with that kind of talking at his death, but the man who was a Christian told me that when the man took his last breath that day in that hospital room that there was the smell of something burning in that room as he was fighting with his arms in the air as if he was fighting off something that could only be seen by him. Now you can do whatever you want with that thought as I did.

Anyway, as always may God bless you and your loved ones and my prayer is you will give this some deep thinking, because in his word he tells us that it has appointed unto all of us once to die and be assured we will all die or leave in the rapture, and after that the judgment.

Bill McFerrin is a West Memphis man with some things to say and a certain way of saying them.

By Bill McFerrin Local Commentary