Category: death

What If There WAS An Ebola Outbreak In Your Town?

Neal Pollard

Kathy avoids any of the depressing news stories centered on the Ebola virus. She believes they heighten stress and fear. I admit to moderate fascination and monitoring of the latest developments. There’s no denying that there has been a growing hysteria in our nation since a Liberian man died and two of his nurses contracted it while treating him. Their travel plans and interactions have been chronicled in minute detail. Quarantines have occurred in multiple states, schools have been closed, and fear has escalated. The concern seems connected to what has been reported in villages throughout the west African nations where the outbreak began in the Spring.  The disease is horrific and deadly. It seems easily spread to others. Entire families have been wiped out by it. Yet, calm voices have tried to convince us no epidemic is occurring in our country.

But what if there was an outbreak where you and I live? Beyond the obvious fear, how would that change your life? Would you look differently at your spiritual life and eternal preparedness? How urgently would you reach out to repair broken relationships? Would you be more bold in trying to make disciples? Would you be more focused on leading and influencing your family to serve Christ?

Ebola is tangible and physical. We can see its effects. The damage it inflicts is completely visible. Sin does not present in the same, dramatic way, but its seriousness is infinitely greater. It is a global, daily threat and it’s already here in our communities. Somebody very close to each of us is almost certainly in the process of succumbing to it! May God give us eyes which see and hearts which feel, appreciating the dangers of sin and trusting the Great Physician to protect us.

Death Is No Respecter

Neal Pollard

On the young man’s Facebook page, he made hopeful comments.  He had just graduated High School when he wrote, “Can’t wait to see what’s in store for my future.” Randomly, several weeks later, he gushed, “Some day, I’m going to travel the world.”  The Colorado Mesa University student from Lakewood, Colorado, was 19 years old when he went hiking in Bangs Canyon south of Grand Junction and fell to his death on Saturday.

Obituary columns are supposed to be filled with wrinkled faces and names that sound like our grandparent’s generation. Birth dates should go way back to the early or at least mid-1900s.  We’re just not conditioned to think that death can come to the young.  But if we are careful Bible readers, we realize that there is no guarantee that we reach Moses’ inspired guideline for life expectancy of 70 or 80 (Psa. 90:10).  We listen to James as the Holy Spirit leads him to write, “You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (4:14).  It does not say that the vapor floats around for a century and a half or more. We do not get to decide how high and long our vapor hangs in the air.

The fact of this uncertainty ought to cause all of us, wherever we are on the time continuum, to take the attitude James urges.  He writes, “Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that'” (4:15).  Such a statement shows submission under God, humility before God, and obligation to God.  This will help us see each day as a gift from Him and should cause us to use it wisely and productively to accomplish His will.  It should also prompt us not to delay following and submitting our lives to Him.  Instead, it should cause us to not delay becoming a Christian, leaving a lifestyle of sin, or getting actively involved in serving Christ.

Most of us will likely reach a ripe old age.  The law of averages are at play.  But we do not get to choose if we do or do not.  What we can choose is who we serve and when!

Conquered The World And Left It With Empty Hand

Neal Pollard

Somehow, it has come down through the ages that Alexander the Great made this dying request, that he should be buried with his hands outside his coffin so that all his subjects could see that despite all the riches he had accumulated in life that he left the world empty-handed.  Artists through time have famously depicted this posture. It has been retold repeatedly.  Whether or not Alexander requested it, the sentiment reflects divine truth.  Paul told Timothy, “For we have brought nothing into this world, so we cannot take anything out of it either” (1 Tim. 6:7).  Similarly, Job said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there” (Job 1:21). Solomon similarly states of the wealthy, “As he had come naked from his mother’s womb, so will he return as he came. He will take nothing from the the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand” (Ecc. 5:15).

While even world conquerors cannot transport their treasures from time to eternity as they make the transition, everyone will exit the world having left so many things behind us.  We leave behind so much more than our financial assets.  We leave behind memories of ourselves, encouragements either given or withheld, speech either edifying or destructive, deeds which brought others closer to or further from Christ, family members influenced either to follow Christ or abandon Him, and similarly impactful matters.  When we leave earth, our hands are empty.  We have bequeathed all that we are and have for those whose lives we touched and influenced.  They pick up our habits, worldview, pleasures, interests, and priorities.  Some day, they will die and leave empty-handed, too, passing along what in some way we gave them to give.

You may never be a world conqueror, but here is how you conquer the world.  It takes faith and spiritual rebirth (1 Jn. 5:4).  But do not simply possess it.  Be sure to pass it along.

What We Learn From The Video Of The Fatal SUV-Semi Crash

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Neal Pollard

A relative sent me an inbox message earlier containing a 34-second video of an SUV that loses control and ultimately is destroyed by an oncoming semi-truck.  It is unquestionable that the driver dies instantly and the footage is incredibly disturbing.  While the details given were not accurate—this does not occur in the states nor is there evidence that it involves texting or distracted driving, the end result does not change.  The best information is that the driver in the February 24, 2012, crash was a 32-year-old Moscow resident named Alexander. Driving on the notoriously treacherous M-7 highway in Russia, he lost control of his Nissan Navara, collided with another vehicle, and then drifted into the path of an oncoming Freightliner big rig.  The much bigger semi obliterates the black Nissan into so many pieces and a young man races into eternity (information found and verified on snopes.com).  As I watched this tragedy, a flood of things went through my mind.

  • There can be but a breath between life and death, time and eternity.
  • Death is no respecter of persons, taking the very young, the very old, and every age in between.
  • Seeing something like this cannot but help one appreciate more deeply the value of life and the irreversible nature of death.
  • Statistically speaking, the chances Alexander died in a saved condition are very small.
  • A momentary loss of self-control can have permanent consequences.
  • Our mistakes and misdeeds impact others, too.

Perhaps there are other things to glean, but I would hope that the benefit we might derive from seeing or reading about something like this is to take some time to contemplate the reality of eternity.  Something about considering our mortality, which a video like this should cause, cuts away our rationalization, excuses, and pride.  It opens us up, if only momentarily, to our accountability and what is really true and truly real—that death is appointed and followed by judgment (Heb. 9:27), that we must each appear before Christ’s judgment seat and give an account of our lives (2 Cor. 5:10), and that life on earth is relatively brief (Job 14:1).  This life is about preparing for the next life.  Whether it is the return of Christ or the end of life, the time for preparation may end at any moment.  Let us live ready for that moment!