In a lesson on living the life God wants for me, this quote stood out…”Serving is where we meet God’s power to change me and the world.” 

I was reminded of a particular Thursday in my life when I had a great need and a friend met that need in such a beautiful way. I was eight months pregnant with my first child, and earlier in the day, received a call from the veterinarian saying it was cancer and there was no way to save our precious dog, Cassius. Later that day I would receive another call. This time it was from my mom saying my sweet, sweet grandmother had passed. 

The next day my husband was leaving to travel for work.

I was alone and overwhelmed with grief and with intense pregnant hormones. A friend of mine took it upon herself to come stay with me that Friday night. She brought an uplifting movie and kept me company. She spent the night so I wouldn’t be alone. It was exactly what I needed. I will never forget it.

I was challenged last night to see the greatest needs of those around me and make myself available to meet them. I can only hope to be to others what my friend was to me in that moment.

I often listen to podcasts while I run. It distracts my mind from the pain. Good pain mind you. Anyway, yesterday I listened to the first in a series called “Life & Death.” As I listened to the section I’ll post below, choking sobs erupted. I thought, “This is it. This is why I love God. This is why I believe in Christ. This is why I hope.” If you’ve ever wondered why Christians are the way they are, read this.

…most all of us hate death. Now what that means, whether we realize it or not, is we want resurrection. Christian or not, theist or not, something inside of us as human beings thirsts for resurrection, something inside of us longs for it. And I’d go so far as to say that we see evidence of this in other contexts not just in the context of physical death. I think we’re wired to want resurrection so deeply that we crave all forms of life after death. I know that I do. I know that I want it. I know that it thrills me when I find it. I know that I long for it when it hasn’t yet happened. I want resurrection, I crave it. Every year in the dead of winter when I look at tree branches that have no leaves on them and I know something is coming and there will be life after death. I celebrate resurrection in tear-filled reconciliations where there’s a relationship that seemed like it was dead but now it is coming back to life. I cheer for resurrection in fourth quarter comebacks. Right? Something inside of us even in the smallest and silliest contexts roots for, thirsts for life after death. And even beyond all that, I yearn for resurrection when someone I love dies. And most all of us do because even the haze of a fallen world cannot obscure the truth that we know death is wrong. We sense somewhere in the deepest parts of ourselves that death is a thief. That it steals things that it has no right to take. So that when we lose a son, or a mother,  or a friend…when their car hits a tree or when their heart suddenly stops or when their body is hijacked by cancer, we can’t help in those moments of grief, we can’t shake the feeling that death is an intruder.  That it should not be here. And the Holy Spirit through Paul and others says, “Yes, death is an enemy. Yes, it is an intruder. It is not okay.” Now, Christ has made it okay but only by making it impotent. Because Christ has taken death and defeated it. He has run it through with His sword. He’s hung it on the gallows of His power. Christ has killed death. He’s alive and He gives life to all of us who trust in Him.

Amen.