Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Summing Up a Life

Last week, a gentleman in our church died. We just found out on Monday when the Sr. Pastor was out of town. I had met this guy, Karl twice. Once when I first came and the other time a couple weeks ago when he was in the hospital for surgery. We had a good conversation and his death was unexpected. Tomorrow I will do his funeral.

How do you sum up a life? It is not easy. Imagine and remember all the things you have done in your life. All the games, all the meetings, all the relationships, all the sacrifices, and a guy you met twice gets to sum up your life. How would you feel?

Doing funerals for people is always such an honor. Whether they are Christian or non-Christian, it is always special to be there with a family and remember who they loved. Funerals always make me think about what is most important about life. That is the nice thing about being a minister. You get to have your heartbeat on the pulse of life and death and get to enjoy it. I am a person that wants to enjoy life to its fullest. Yes, I use my life and all my possessions to further God's kingdom but I also want to have fun, fun with my wife, my kids. Karl liked to be outdoors, he liked to fish, hunt. These events always make me want to make more time for things I enjoy, like playing guitar, reading books, jumping in the leaves wtih the kids, watching football on Sunday afternoons.

As any preacher would ask, how would you want someone to sum up your life? What do you wish they would say and what would they really say?

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