Words about the WORD - Lance Thomas - Albany Methodist Church
Do you have a flight plan?
There have been a few major news stories of late regarding significant airplane accidents causing injury and death. Rarely does an automobile accident make the news but in Texas about one death occurs every 2.5 hours in a vehicular accident. Overall, about 700 Texans die each day from various causes. In the vast majority of cases, not one of those folks knew that it would be their last day. And, many, if not most, will “fly away” without a flight plan!
Death is a fact of life. We cannot escape it. We routinely face the death of friends and loved ones. Given this fact, death should be faced head-on, without delay, while we are perfectly healthy, have all of our faculties and are not distressed.
First, there are some basic house-keeping items that should be addressed.
Tiffany Lashmet at TxA&M AgriLife Extension wrote a one page summary of items that everyone should have in a folder that contains important documents and information that your family or loved ones will need to access at the time of your death. These documents include a will, powers of attorney and advanced directives to your medical providers. Tiffany states, “taking the time to gather important documents and critical information is one of the best things a person can do for their family.” https://agrilife.org/texasaglaw/2020/02/03/do-you-have-a-flight-plan/
Also, in that folder, I recommend that you provide funeral and burial instructions including favorite songs and pall bearers. In short, make these end of life decisions yourself and do not burden your grieving loved ones with making last minute decisions. See also The Texas Methodist Foundation link
https://texasmethodistfoundation.planmygift.org/planning-toolkit
Second, and most importantly, at our death there are eternal matters that will be dealt with. God created us as eternal beings. Therefore, the question is not, “Will we die?” It is, “Where will we be living?” The answer to that question is completely dependent on decisions made and actions taken NOW while we are living! Since we do not know when our moment of death will come, NOW is the time for action. NOW is the time of decision. In the parable of the 10 virgins (Mat. 25:1-13), Jesus emphasized this point. Jesus is coming! Those who are prepared to receive Christ will celebrate with him at His heavenly banquet. To those who are not prepared, he painfully and regretfully says, “Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.”
The Good News for you and me is that Jesus wants to know you and live with you now and forever. The initial steps are easy: (1) Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior; (2) Repent of your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins (Acts 2:38); At that moment, we are clean of sin and are ready to meet Jesus! Unfortunately, even though we take the baptismal bath that washes away our sin, we don’t stay clean! Jesus knows this and has a remedy…(3) Confession and Pardon: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9); Now the harder part…(4) Live like you are dying! Love God. Love your neighbor. Read Luke 6:27-38 & Mat. 25. God asks us to share the same love, mercy and forgiveness that God has given to us. Forgive, and you will be forgiven! (Luke 6:37).
Forgiveness is not forgetting (Mat. 18). It is not a feeling. It is not pretending that something did not happen. St. Augustine says forgiveness is surrendering our desire for revenge. It is not easy, but neither was the cross!
Finally, “since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Heb. 12:1-2). I look forward to speaking with anyone that wants talk about any part of this article. More importantly, one glad morning when this life is over, I hope to join you all on God’s celestial shore singing “I’ll Fly Away!”
God bless you all! Amen!
