Do you know what will kill you?  Microplastics.  Pipe smoke. PFA’s.  Chem trails.  Terrorists. Pesticides.  A tainted food supply. And . . . (add your favorite fear here)

I have said before in sermons that we are all dying, and one day a certificate will state in retrospect what it was that finished the job.  For some of us, they will name it in advance.  It will carry a scary name, like melanoma, or Alzheimer’s, or myocardial infarction, or CHF.

My mind keeps circling back to these things because these things keep circling back to me.  As a pastor, I interact with many people, and many of them appear to me to be a little bundle of enfleshed fear.  Death is a given, and as such, it is quite a gruesome stalker.  If we think about it too little, we will waste our lives in frivolity, and it just might ‘come quicker’.  Think about death too much, and we will find no ability to savor the life God has given us.

But if I have to choose which side to address, it seems to me that Christians need to take a chill pill on the worry about what is killing them.  I’m going to die of something.  And I care little to worry NOW about what it is.  Cancer?  I lost both of my parents to that ugly end.  I hate death.  I learned to despise it at the age of eight when I saw my father lowered into the dirt in Auburn, Michigan.  And I doubled down on my hatred of death 14 years later when my mom was lowered into the dirt in Mendon, Michigan.  When I speak of death, it isn’t abstract to me.

I have not made peace with death.  And my only comfort about my end comes in trusting the one who controls it.  And that ISN’T me.

I recognize that there may be all kinds of reasons to talk feverishly about chem-trails, micro-plastics, and hormone-laced beef.  But any part of it that comes down to fear, or a seeking to control our own ending is folly.  Two things are true in Scripture.  We cannot add a single day to our life.  And God has not given us a spirit of fear.  Some people will think I am writing this to them, and if you think I am, then let’s just go with that!

I am writing this to those who think that fixing their diet, avoiding certain toxins, or staying inside when the planes are flying over will add to their lifespan.  Be done with fear and live!  Live well.  Live healthy.  And then go and enjoy these few days you have left.  Smile.  Laugh.  Grieve.  Mourn.  And then smile some more!

Jesus has you if you belong to Him.  If Jesus is NOT your savior, then I understand the fear and desperation.  But I would like to honestly invite you to reach out to me if you want to know where my fear of death has gone.  I hate death.  It is a terrible and unnatural transition.  It will be defeated in the end by Jesus Christ, my Lord.  But I don’t walk through this life assuming I can avoid death with my many decisions.  I trust my Lord to be with me on that day.  And He promises to always be with His people.  Are you one of His people?