Recognizing Death Will Come To Be Able To Fully Live Today

On Good Friday I had one of my little discussions with God and sent the following text to Todd Decker, my pastor.

“I had an epiphany. Until I reconcile myself with my death I can’t really live. I know we all die but even through all this (my cancer) I’m not sure I got my head to that place. I always thought death was way off and would deal with it later. The sooner you make that connection, the more fully you can live. Am I just slow or is this something a whole lot of people ignore?”

I got a text back from him almost immediately that he was working on his sermon for Easter Sunday and that he had just written the words “death is our modern taboo.” Now some might believe in coincidence but I believe that in that very moment that God was talking to me once again in ways only He can.

Todd shared our exchange in his sermon on Sunday and of course had to mention that I had asked if I was slow. And sometimes I am slow. I seem to have to be reminded over and over the same things and learn and relearn the same lessons sometimes on a daily basis. But, you know what? I serve a God that is patient and forgiving — even when I won’t forgive myself.

I hope that as I share my journey, I, in some small way, have an impact on someone who is struggling in their daily lives. We don’t always know how or who we may impact but we need to keep on moving forward.

A very wise friend of mine was talking about regrets that he had. I reminded him that we all have regrets and we all wish we could change things from our past. But we can’t dwell in the past just as we can’t unring a bell. We may ask forgiveness for past transgressions but we can’t change what we have done.

All we can do is live in the present and plan for the future, understanding that the future is up to God and not to us. So we need to live life to the fullest now rather than waiting for some magical time in the future that we may or may not reach. I of all people struggle with this notion but I am really trying to do better. I may be slow but I do sometimes learn. I hope you are a quicker learner on some of life’s lessons than I am.

I had really planned on turning my column back to the political side but as I sat down to start typing, this is what came out. Melody has reminded me in the past that I said that I write what is on my heart so I guess this is more important to me than politics right now.

But, that doesn’t mean that I don’t have some very distinct thoughts on what is happening in our country right now. It is said that Christians should live “in” the world but not be “of” the world. That means that we shouldn’t let worldly values guide our decisions but that also means that we should share our values with the rest of the world.

I want to take to task those on the liberal side of the spectrum who sometimes validate unfettered government spending on social welfare programs as being the “Christian” thing to do. These are the same people who do their darndest to keep all mention of God out of government until they want to spend more money and then it is the “Christian” thing to do.

I think those folks need to take another look at the Bible because I don’t think you will see many references to what the “government” should do to help others. The Bible I read talks a lot about our individual responsibility to help others but is silent about government spending.

I do believe that our Christian values should have influence over how we expect our government to function. But, I don’t think you can cherry pick when you invoke God’s name and when you ban it — something my liberal friends don’t seem to understand. KEVIN WILSON IS A FORMER MISSOURI STATE REPRESENTATIVE WHO WAS BORN IN GOODMAN AND NOW LIVES IN NEOSHO. THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR.