February 09, 2009

Diana

A member of our church family just passed away after what appeared to be a short illness of only one month. The reality is that 59 year-old Diana hadn’t focused on her health for a couple of years, “It’s my own fault for not going in for check-ups.” Although Diana had dismissed her physical health, she was spiritually healthy. After years of faithfully serving in the church, I suppose she might fall into the Dorcas category (Acts 9:36). I find the story of Dorcas interesting. She was dearly loved by those in her church community, died unexpectedly and then Peter prayed over her bringing her back to life. I always wondered if Dorcas would have preferred staying with the Lord rather than returning to a life of service and love. It seems to me that our friend Diana has earned a well deserved rest from her labor.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Gail;

-----The Bible says it is appointed for man to die once, then be judged. But there were a number of folks who would seem to have faced the death experience twice, most notably, Lazarus. He was dead for not just a few hours, but a few days. As interesting as it would have been to hear him talk about his experiences during those days, I would have liked to hear him talk about what he experienced when actually dying. The edge of sleep and the edge of death have always been interesting to me.
-----I was fascinated by the story a lady related of surgery on her brain cancer. She was terminal, by all but one specialist‘s estimation. He thought she might have a chance if he tried an unheard of procedure. He did not simply anesthetize her for the surgery, he brought her to the state of clinical death where her brain registered no activity on the monitors. Then he removed the tumor. Obviously his gamble was very successful, because she told her story to the nation on ABC News. What was incredible about the story was not that she was alive and very fully functional, but that she was able to describe what had happened in the operating room and the conversation between the surgeon and his assistants. She was definitely aware during the time her brain was registering as dead, and she was able to bring her memories of that time back after being revived.
-----We only know the front edge of death. Either the Bible is speaking metaphorically about once to die, and ABC News was duped by a very clever lady, or there is much more to death beyond that front edge. I can only tentatively conclude that somewhere past what appears to us to be death, somewhere in God’s spiritual realm may be the real line of crossing over. Diana has crossed over that line. I don’t know if she was one of those who actually looked forward to that crossing, like many do, but I know she will be welcomed across it by all those who are destined for eternal joy. We think too large of our tiny place on earth. Having trusted the Lord to the end, I am sure Diana is now considering how inconsequential all her struggles here really were.


Love you all,
Steve Corey