There have been a number of incidents recently which have caused me to stop and think about my life.
  A couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail from a friend informing me of a former student who was in the Navy and was shot and killed while on guard duty in the state of Washington.
  Then, about a week later I received notice of a missionary friend we knew from our time in Ft. Wayne who was serving in Nairobi, Kenya who suffered a major heart attack and died.
  He was only a few years older than me.
  Then, this past Sunday, the small groups pastor in our church shared about his life and how back in 2000 doctors gave him 6 months to live because of congestive heart failure.
  He was only in his 40’s at the time, and his heart was only functioning at 20%.
 

I’m going to be 48 this next month, so these things cause me to think about my life.
  None of us know when that last breath will be.
  None of us know when God will call us home.
  The important thing is how we are living our lives right now.
  We don’t need to focus on or fear death, when our time comes, it comes and there’s nothing we can do about it.
  But we do know that God will be with us and take us through whatever comes our way.
  I was reading in Isaiah 43 this morning, and God’s promise to Israel, which I believe is a promise to us as well,

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you;

And when you pass through the rivers,

They will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,

You will not be burned;

The flames will not set you ablaze.”
 

Isaiah 43:1-2