Happy Monday! How about some good words to start your week: “We’re all dying!”

I know, that’s not what you wanted to hear coming off a great weekend with family and friends, but as we put our feet in the starting blocks of a fresh seven days of good work, big projects, and future joys, this IS the bigger race – and how we adjust will better prepare us for today, this week, and the run to eternity.

For the last year and a half, I have enjoyed working my way through Augustine’s City of God. Each week, a friend and I read five chapters and interact via text. City of God is no easy tome. We’ve been at it for over a year and are only halfway through this masterpiece. Last week’s reading found us in Book 13, Chapters 6 – 10, in which Augustine begins with these words, “Wherefore, as regards bodily death…”

Hmmm! At first glance, not exactly what I wanted to hear, but upon greater contemplation, exactly what I needed to hear! Augustine writes,

“For no sooner do we begin to live in this dying body, than we begin to move ceaselessly toward death. . . . So that our whole life is nothing but a race towards death, in which no one is allowed to stand still for a little space, or to go somewhat more slowly, but all are driven forwards with an impartial movement, and with equal rapidity.” Book 13, Chapter 10

These words hit home, in particular, because Shannan and I have a family member who is navigating his own challenges late in life, and we also have a dear friend who recently passed and, on whose behalf, I brought a message at his memorial service.

Death is a paradox. The Scripture calls it, “an enemy” (1 Corinthians 15:26), but also “precious” (Psalm 116:15) and “gain” (Philippians 1:21). Most of us see the enemy; the one who tortures our last days, cuts short our dreams, snatches loved ones from our grasp and leaves us with all the words we never said. But what of the precious gain? Continue reading…