I once knew a man...
Illustration
I once knew a man who spent a long and uneventful life being afraid of death. He was so afraid that he might be killed that he would not step on a plane, and dreaded traveling by boat. Increasingly, through the years, he hesitated even to leave his house except to see the doctor. His many imagined illnesses took him to his doctor often, though he was remarkably healthy. At a very advanced age he realized how he had been enslaved all his life by fear of death. And now, when his life was almost over, that fear was gone. How much of life he had missed!
All of us will die. Jesus Christ did not come to save us from the death of our bodies. The promise is that Jesus Christ can free us from slavery to the fear of death.
I once said to a nursing home administrator, "Doesn't it get to you at times, working with the elderly? It must be so gloomy around here, with so many people facing death." Her reply has stayed with me ever since. "Not at all," she said, "for most of the folks in this home, death comes as a friend. They are determined to live every day to the fullest they are able, until they meet that friend."
- Curley
All of us will die. Jesus Christ did not come to save us from the death of our bodies. The promise is that Jesus Christ can free us from slavery to the fear of death.
I once said to a nursing home administrator, "Doesn't it get to you at times, working with the elderly? It must be so gloomy around here, with so many people facing death." Her reply has stayed with me ever since. "Not at all," she said, "for most of the folks in this home, death comes as a friend. They are determined to live every day to the fullest they are able, until they meet that friend."
- Curley
