Life and Death

Monday afternoon after work, I needed to stop by my parent's house to pick up something my sister had left there for me. I have to pass my aunt's house (mom's sister) just before getting to my mom's house. When I passed Aunt Katherine's house, I saw a big red truck in front of it. It looked like a large paramedic's vehicle. I knew that my aunt's health has been going down and that hospice had been called in, but I didn't know why paramedics were there. When I got to my parent's house, I asked my mother about the paramedics truck and she didn't know it was there. So she called my aunt's house and found out that she had just died a few minutes earlier. At first, it was sad to realize that she's gone and I'll never see her again. But at the same time, we also knew that Aunt Katherine is no longer bound by this earthly body that was diseased with Parkinsons. She is whole again and in better condition than she ever was here on earth. Just when I saw the big red truck at her house, she was walking into the kingdom of heaven and seeing her Savior and God face to face.

Death is such a strange thing. Sometimes it makes me so sad when people die unexpectedly or tragically, or when children and young people die. But other times, when someone has lived a full life and I know they are going to heaven, it doesn't make me sad. I loved my aunt and I felt a closeness to her; I'll miss her.....but today I am rejoicing because I know that Aunt Katherine is not suffering any longer and she is finally home.

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 1 Corinthians 15:54