Not courage, just trust

I went to a funeral today. The secretary's mother died at age 63. After the funeral one of the men riding with me said that he hated funerals. He hated death and admitted being scared of death. He' s still in his 20s.

One of my favorite songs was written 20 years ago by a group named Harvest. It was about Jesus conquering death. The line in the song that I still remember was, "He stared at sin and conquered death and now I'm a mountain climber." I liked the song because I admired the tenacity and sheer courage it takes to stare at sin and conquer death. I was in my early 30s when the song was popular.

Since that time, many around me that I knew have died, not the least of which were my father and son 8 days apart. Most recently my aunt died. But through those experiences, I have found that a person doesn't have tenacity nor courage to stare at sin and conquer death. Nor is it a matter to be frightened about. A person simply stares death in the face and trusts that the unknown parts of the actual crossing from one life to the other is handled appropriately by the one who hides those parts from us all. No courage really. Just simple trust in the capability of the creator of the life here and there to smoothly transport us from one side to the other. No tenacity, just trust.

"In my father's compund are many houses, many rooms. If it weren't so, I wouldn't have told you that it was. I am going to prepare this place for you." Jesus