I just found out this morning that a family friend died suddenly while on holiday in Tasmania. I am totally in shock at the moment as I only saw him last Saturday and he left for his trip on Monday. He wasn't sick and was in reasonably good health, except that he has been overweight for many years. Apparantly he came down for breakfast at the place he was staying at and just dropped dead. The cause is still unclear. I think he was 63.
His name was Allen and I called him my uncle, even though he's not a relative. He was such a jolly and generous bloke. His wife Lyn and my mum had been good friends since they were about 7 until Lyn died of mesothelioma in February last year. In 1994, Lyn and Allen's son, David died of bone cancer a few weeks before he turned 14. Their daughter Karen has now lost all the members of her immediate family and she's only 29. I can't imagine losing my parents and brother right now. I spent a lot of time with her growing up. She's now married and pregnant. Allen was looking forward to being a grandfather.
There's so many people dying around me at the moment. Last year, Lyn died and also my parents' former workmate, Wyn died of cancer. This year, five of my workmates have lost parents and another one lost her uncle. And of course there have been the deaths of Steve Irwin and Peter Brock. Death was not a part of God's good creation. It ends relationships. I look forward to the day when there will be no more death, mourning, crying or pain.
It's completely natural to grieve when anyone dies but when a Christian dies, there is also sense of peace and rejoicing that they have gone to be with the Lord and we know that one day we will be reunited in heaven. When a Christian loses a non-Christian they love, it is shattering. Allen wasn't a Christian (as far as I know). I remember feeling such comfort when I found out from my dad that Wyn had become a Christian before he died.
The death of a loved one (particularly of a somewhat young person) can cause non-Christians to respond to God in different ways. Some believe it shows that God is cruel and unjust and cares nothing for them, that he is totally out of touch with their pain. Some seek the truth and end up giving their lives to Christ. I'll pray for the latter for Karen. I know that she considered herself an atheist after her brother died. I don't know what she believes now.
I don't know what to say at non-Christian funerals when people are saying that the deceased person is in heaven because they lived a 'good life' and they were a 'good person'. Or maybe I shouldn't say anything. Life is so short and I want to tell everyone about Jesus but just don't know where to start and have to fight off fear, laziness and complacency in the process.
I don't know what else to write.
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