Courage, Valor, and Death

I got off the phone tonight with a close friend who just found out that some very close friends of hers were in a bad accident. With that knowledge the husband and baby did not make it and the wife was in critical and hadn't been told yet that her family did not make it. Just a few minutes before I got off the phone with my brother who had just found out that a close pastor friend had just passed. Also this last week we were anxiously awaiting to find out if we had lost any friends in the officer shootings in Lakewood, WA this last week.

To tell you the truth all of this death has got me thinking. I grew up learning the words courage, valor, integrity, and the willingness to lay down your life for a friend. I never really fully understood those words until I started having to face it everyday. Talking with a friend the other day, she made the comment that it takes a whole new level of faith to live a life as a warrior or be a spouse of one. Especially when you don't know if you or your warrior will come home at the end of the day. But in thinking about that I am not so sure in some ways and most definitely in others. After all what are we as Christians called to believe and live? We are called to live everyday as if it were the last. We are called to believe in God's sovereignty even when we don't understand. We are called to be ready when our time here on earth is done.

Don't get me wrong, when I stop and think about my warrior and others, I still have "Oh *&%#!" moments. Today has been one of those days and yet as I was needing some comfort tonight He pointed me to Psalm 91 once again and the last two chapters of Revelation. What wonderful passages. The reminder that His sovereignty is it. The wonderful place that He has gone to prepare for me and those that believe in Him. I know that I will have these moments again and that one day I may actually have to live it (I pray not for many many years). But for now..........

I ask that you all pray and pray hard for the families of the fallen in Lakewood, they have a long road ahead of them. I also ask that you pray for my friend and her family, this is one situation in many that she has been dealing with these last few months. I also pray that if you do not know the Lord that you will right now get on your knees and ask Him into your heart as your Lord and Saviour. Change your life. Get your name written in the Lambs Book of Life. Then tell someone immediately. God says TODAY IS THE DAY OF SALVATION! There is a reason for that. Life is to short and death is immediate. I hope and pray that I will see you walking those "streets of gold" with me one day!