Vanishing Life..

"You don't even know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are a bit of smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes." - James 4:14

In Life, we all experience death in some fashion or another. Whether its a family member, friend, co-worker, aquaintance, or someone you know through a friend. We all experience it. Unfortunately for some, we experience more often than others. It is a tough situation to deal with. I find myself not knowing what to say, how to act, what to do and it becomes very awkward at times. When in reality, all I want to do is lend a helping hand.

Let me be honest, I do not deal with death well. I never have, never will. I will never understand why young people have to die so soon. They have dreams and goals that still need to be fulfilled, families that need to be formed, and kids that need to be blessed with loving parents. The good news is, I do not have to understand why these things happen because God is in control. His hand is in all things. Some will ask, "But why does he let these evil things happen?" Accidents happen, He does not make bad things happen. However, from the bad, he makes Good! "All things work together for the good of those who LOVE the Lord." -Romans 8:28

In my 21 years (soon to be 22), I have experienced all the pains and emotions you can feel through death, even to the point of being numb at times. I have questioned God to the point where I believed He took my best friend away from me, because He was playing some kind of cruel joke. I sat in worship services not believing that He could do anything for me if He let bad things happen to people. Thank God, my life continued to be spared. From my adversity, it has made me a stronger person today. I just lost a teacher, mentor and friend who loved her students. It has been rough, but I find peace in knowing she touched so many of her student's lives. I believe she had served her purpose and it was time for her reward. Today, I lost someone who I had grown close to through the "adopt-a-student" program at my church, my adopted "dad" Tom Dukes. I firmly believe his life on this Earth was well served. He loved God with all his heart, and knew so much about the bible. He had a way of touching people's lives through the way he lived. Again, there is no doubt in my mind he served his purpose during his earthly life. I know I will see him again one day in Heaven.

How are you living your life? We don't know when the Lord will come back, we do not know when we will take our last breath. Life is so short-lived, its like dust that gets picked up by the wind and vanishes away. We are not guranteed to live tomorrow, or any other day! Love the Lord and know "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens Me" -Phil. 4:13