Davids Letter
Dear Family,
Well that serves me right doesn't it? I write about hacking down ceilings… and then I put my back out! Happily, my torn muscles are healed up now and I'm back to hacking off plaster - although, I admit, more carefully!.I've never had back problems before, so it was a new experience for me, and made me think about death! Let me explain. After the first day or two, I was alright sitting, and alright standing - it was the getting up which was agony. So I developed my own technique: first of all, use arms to shuffle forward to the edge of the seat; then, with hands on knees, sort of roll forward out of the seat into a bent over position; then, using arms again, push against knees to get a bit more upright; then, bite the bullet and go the rest of the way; and finally, stand for bit while the pain settled to a dull throb before moving anywhere.
And this made me think about death? Yes! As Christians we know that, as Paul says in Romans 14:8, 'If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.' Therefore, whether we are here, or there, we are with him - but that's not the issue for most of us. What we fear is death itself, and the manner of it. In other words, sitting down is alright and standing up is alright… it's the getting up that worries us!
Even though we may fear the manner of our death, we do know three things. We know that we live to the Lord. We know that we shall belong to the Lord after death. We know this through the exercise of our faith, so when our turn comes to die, we continue to exercise faith and, as Paul puts it, die as we live, to the Lord. Will it hurt? Maybe; but faith is stronger than fear and even when getting up hurts, once we're up, we can walk wherever we like!
With love, David.