Food for Thought: Uncertain Certainty

In 1997, the book Into Thin Air became a bestseller. Author Jon Krakauer chronicled the disastrous 1996 Mt. Everest expedition that resulted in the deaths of eight climbers. Charlotte Fox was a part of that summit. She made it to "the top of the world" and survived the harrowing journey down. On May 24, 2018, Fox fell down the stairs of her home in Telluride, Colorado and died at the age of 61. The shocking news made a friend say, "it's just so wrong." How can you survive one of the most dangerous climbs on earth and then die on the stairs in your house? Death is both uncertain and certain, which warrants our thorough preparedness for its coming. Examiner 6/21/18, p.28B

We all know that we are going to die at some point. But we humans are very good at convincing ourselves that we can put off even thinking about it for a very long time. But, time has a way of slipping away and we start to experience the loss of acquaintances who are our age or younger, passing away, some suddenly and some after long illnesses.

Gilda Radner (1946-1989) was an American comedienne and one of the original cast members for Saturday Night Live. During her 3-year battle with ovarian cancer, she wrote about the challenges she faced. Of her situation she wrote, "I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next." Beaumont Enterprise, 5/20/18, p.2A

The good news is that even thought we don’t know when or how the end of our life will take place, we can know that no matter how life on this earth ends for us, there is a better life to come if we believe in salvation through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross. There in is the certainty in our uncertainty and the blessing in believing. “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” 2 Corinthians 9:15

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’” John 11:25-26

We all need to ask ourselves; do I believe this?