There was a young woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. So as she was getting her things "in order," she contacted her preacher and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in. Everything was in order and the preacher was preparing to leave when the young woman suddenly remembered something very important to her.
"There's one more thing," she said excitedly.
"What's that?" came the pastor's reply.
"This is very important," the young woman continued. "I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand."
The preacher stood looking at the young woman, not knowing quite what to say. That surprises you, doesn't it?" the young woman asked.
"Well, to be honest, I'm puzzled by the request," said the preacher.
The young woman explained. "My grandmother once told me this story, and from there on out, I have always done so. I have also, always tried to pass along its message to those I love and those who are in need of encouragement. 'In all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, 'Keep your fork.' It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming...like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful, and with substance!' So, I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder "What's with the fork?".
Then I want you to tell them: "Keep your fork ... the best is yet to come." The preacher's eyes welled up with tears of joy as he hugged the young woman good-bye. He knew this would be one of the last times he would see her before her death. But he also knew that the young woman had a better grasp of heaven than he did. She had a better grasp of what heaven would be like
than many people twice her age, with twice as much experience and knowledge. She KNEW that something better was coming.

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel awoke one morning to read his own obituary in the local newspaper: "Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, who died yesterday, devised a way for more people to be killed in a war than ever before, and he died a very rich man." There was only one problem, Alfred Nobel had not died. Actually, it was his older brother who had died, but a newspaper reporter had somehow gotten it wrong. Regardless of how it happened, the account had a profound effect on Alfred Nobel. He decided he wanted to be known for something other than developing the means to kill people efficiently and for amassing a fortune in the process. So he initiated the Nobel Peace Prize, the award for scientists and writers who foster peace. Nobel said, "Every man ought to have the chance to correct his epitaph in midstream and write a new one."

QUOTE: Now comes the mystery. - Henry Ward Beecher, preacher

QUOTE: All my possessions for a moment of time. - Elizabeth I, Queen of England

The last words of 0. Henry were: "I'm afraid to go home in the dark." On his deathbed, Goethe said, "More light." They pulled up the shades in his room to give him more light. Still this wasn't enough. He repeated, "More light."

QUOTE: Ashes to ashes: 20% of Americans are cremated when they die. - 1995

In an interview back in the 70’s, Randy Newman, a rock star of the age said: "I think religion is tremendously powerful force. How else is someone going to face the horror of everything ending?"

Knowing Newman to be an atheist, the reporter shot back: "So how do you face it?"

Poignantly, Newman replied: "I don’t. I joke around…"

NOT SPOKEN OF THE SOUL Henry Wadsworth Longfellow A Psalm of Life Poem

Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

Was not spoken of the soul.

A little girl started to the store. She stepped into the street from between 2 parked cars, was struck by a delivery truck, and killed instantly. To make matters worse, she was an only child. And to make the situation even more tragic, her mother had been killed in a car wreck just the preceding June.

The little girl’s funeral would have been a challenge to anyone, no matter how vast his experience. A large crowd of friends and relatives had assembled. One could sense they were completely demoralized. The people were so shocked, grieved, frustrated, and confused that they were falling apart. Toward the front sat the bereaved father. It had been a matter of weeks before that he had possessed a wonderful family. Now, here he was – horribly alone.

When the minister came forth to take charge of the service, the prospects looked more hopeless than ever. He was young. He seemed frightfully immature. In fact, he did not look equal to any part of what the occasion demanded. But this appraisal soon proved entirely unfounded. The young minister looked over the crowded room and in an even voice said:

"Friends, I am not going to begin this service by telling you that the thing that has brought us together is God’s will. The God I worship doesn’t kill little girls. He doesn’t kill their mothers, either. This is just stark tragedy. I would not for a moment try to make anything more out of this. And I certainly would not for a moment pretend that I understand why things like this have to happen. I am as confused and hurt as any of you could possibly be.

"If we were depending on my resources to meet the needs of this hour, we would be in bad way. I have not lived long. I have not lived very broadly, either. I have never lost a member of my own family. I am not prepared to speak to you from personal experience with grief. Nor can I speak with the general wisdom of maturity.

"But, thank God, we are not depending on my resources. Thank God, that I , who know so little, can bring you the words of Him who knows all. I can bring you the words of Him who did lose His only Son. Who was Himself a ‘Man of sorrow and acquainted with grief.’

"Let us begin this service with a prayer. Something of two edged prayer. First a prayer of gratitude - that this magnificent help exists for us when we need it so desperately. Secondly, a prayer for guidance, as to how we can best take advantage of this help."

QUOTE: Spoken by an old time preacher after visiting a dying Christian man: "I went to see a man with one foot in the grave, and met a man with one foot in heaven."

QUOTE: Let us choose so to live that when we come to die, even the undertaker will be sorry. – Mark Twain

QUOTE: "They say such nice things about people at their funerals that it makes me sad to realize that I'm going to miss mine by just a few days." - Garrison Keillor

God saw she was getting tired

And a cure was not to be

So he put his arms around her

And whispered, "Come with me."

With tear-filled eyes we watched her

Suffer and fade away

Although we loved her deeply

We could not make her stay

A golden heart stopped beating

Hard-working hands put to rest

God broke our hearts to prove to us

He only takes the best

As a young man, D.L. Moody was called upon suddenly to preach a funeral sermon. He hunted all throughout the four Gospels trying to find one of Christ's funeral sermons, but searched in vain. He found that Christ broke up every funeral he ever attended. Death could not exist where he was. When the dead heard his voice they sprang to life. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection, and the life."

ALL I’LL SEE IS THE STICK

A woman and her five-year-old daughter often walked through an old cemetery to reach the local playground. One day the little girl saw someone stick a rod into the dirt near a headstone and hang a wreath on it. Curious, she asked Mom, "Why did that man put a wreath on the grave?"

Mom explained that the man wanted to remember the person who had died.

The little girl asked, "Will someone do that for me when I die?"

Mom, answered and said, "I'm sure they will." She began mentally preparing herself for the next question.

They walked on in silence for a while and the little girl said: "It won't be fair. All I'll see is the stick."

LIFE SPEED
Have you ever watched kids on the merry-go-round,
or listened to rain slapping the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight, or
gazed at the sun fading into the night?
You better slow down, don't dance so fast,
time is short, the music won't last.
Do you run through each day on the fly.
When you ask "How are you?," do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed,
with the next hundred chores running through your head?
You better slow down, don't dance so fast,
Time is short, the music won't last.
Ever told your child, we'll do it tomorrow,
and in his haste not seen his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, let a good friendship die
'cause you never had time to call and say "Hi"?
You better slow down, don't dance so fast
time is short, the music won't last.
When you run so fast to get somewhere,
you miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
it's like an unopened gift thrown away.
Life is not a race, so take it slower,
hear the music before the song is over.
Sometimes we get so caught up in what we are doing and experiencing in our daily trials and experiences, we forget to look around and enjoy our friends.

ACCOUNTABILITY
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad." 2 Corinthians 5:10
My friend Graham was only 44 when cancer struck him down. When they discovered the disease, it had gone too far. Not long before he died I asked him, "What does it feel like to be 44 and in your situation?"
He sat in silence for quite a while as he pondered the question. And then he said some things I will never forget. He felt angry in that there was so much more he wanted to do with his life and now it was too late. He felt guilty because he had been too busy too much of the time and hadn't spent enough time with his wife and children and now that opportunity was gone forever. And then, after much thought, he said, "I wonder if I have ever done anything that has been truly worthwhile with my life."

GRAVESTONES Internet = actual epitaphs from gravestones

On the grave of Ezekiel Aikle in E. Dalhousie Cemetery, Nova Scotia:

Here lies Ezekiel Aikle

Age 102

The Good Die Young

In a London, England Cemetery:

Here lies Ann Mann,

Who lived an old maid but died an old Mann

Dec. 8, 1767

Playing with names in a Ruidoso, New Mexico cemetery:

Here lies Johnny Yeast

Pardon me for not rising

Someone determined to be anonymous in Stowe, Vermont:

I was somebody.

Who, is no business of yours

In a Georgia cemetery:

I told you I was sick!

Battersea, London, England:

Owen Moore

Gone away owin’ more

Than he could pay.

Someone in Winslow, Maine didn’t like Mr. Wood

In Memory of Beza Wood

Departed this life Nov. 2, 1837 Aged 45 yrs.

Here lies one Wood enclosed in wood

One wood within another.

The outer wood is very good:

We cannot praise the other.

Oops:

Harry Edsel Smith of Albany, New York:

Born 1903 – Died 1942

Looked up the elevator shaft to see if

The car was on the way down. It was.

In a Thurmont Maryland cemetery

Here lies an Atheist

All dressed up and no place to go.

In a cemetery in England:

Remember man, as you walk by

As you are now, so once was I,

As I am now, so shall you be,

Remember this and follow me.

To which someone replied by writing on the tombstone:

To follow you I’ll not consent,

Until I know which way you went.

In his excellent little book When Loved Ones Are Taken In Death, Lehman Strauss made some interesting comments about the Greek word translated "departure." He wrote, "It is used metaphorically in a nautical way as when a vessel pulls up anchor to loose from its moorings and set sail, or in a military way as when an army breaks encampment to move on. In the ancient Greek world this term was also used of freeing someone from chains and of the severing of a piece of goods from the loom. This is what death is as described in the bible. Here, we are anchored to the hardships and heartaches of this life. In death, the gangway is raised, the anchor is weighed, and we set sail for the golden shore. In death, we break camp here to start for heaven."

FEAR OF MOST PEOPLE R.Digest 9/98 p. 110

"According to most studies, people’s No. 1 fear is public speaking," says comic Jerry Seinfeld. "No. 2 is death. So to the average person, if you have to go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy."

DEAD IS STILL DEAD loosely rendered from a radio sermon 1/8/99

Naked you came into this world and naked you’ll go out… You were naked when you were born, and the only reason you’ll have clothes on when you die is because somebody put them on you.

It used to be that funerals were solemn but crude affairs. The dead were placed in a wooden box and lowered by ropes into a 6 foot deep hole.

Nowadays, it is a far more elegant arrangement. The funeral home is an elegant mansion that employs experts at creating a tasteful presentation of your body. The casket is no longer a wooden box but a polished bronze bed with cushions. They have makeup artists that can make you look better in death than you ever did in life. Then when the ceremony is over, you get to ride in a limousine down streets where police stop traffic for you and you run through red lights. Cars on the other side of the road pull over, just because you’re coming. Then they pull into the cemetery and instead of crude ropes, they lower your body into the grave using silver toned winches… But you know… dead’s still dead.

NO LONGER FEARED DEATH Guideposts 10/98 pp. 13-15 by Emma Wilford

In the Spring of 1920, Emma Wilford’s (then age 7) brother Dom, age 17, was stricken with "brain fever" or spinal meningitis - "Even nowadays this dreaded disease… can be fatal or cause permanent brain damage. Back in the 1920s, before antibiotics and other wonder drugs, meningitis had no treatment or cure."

Their parents prayed incessantly and stayed by his bedside as often as possible for the 17 days he was in the hospital. One night, "Papa woke with a start. He gave a cry like I had never heard before… and leaped to his feet. He raced toward the bedroom. At the same time Momma had woken abruptly and leaped out of bed. As I sat on the floor in wonderment, my parents rushed at each other from opposite ends of the house and met in the hallway right in front of me.

"Paulo!" Momma cried. "I just had a dream! I had been praying before I fell asleep and I know the message was from God. A voice told me, ‘Go to the hospital now!’"

I will never forget the shock in my father’s voice. "Assunta, just moments ago, I had the same dream. I also heard the same words: ‘Go to the hospital! Now!’"

My parents rushed to the hospital and went straight to my brother’s room. Dom was sitting upright. He had just come out of the coma. With a weak but clear voice, he said with a smile, "I want some ice cream."

He had recovered. The doctors were astounded. They discharged Dom soon afterward. He went on to live a full, healthy life of 80 years.

Dom later told me that while lying in the coma he had experienced a vision that forever took away his fear of death. But he didn’t tell anyone exactly what it was he saw. He only said, "I will never be afraid to die. God is good and I will trust in him forever."

WINSTON CHURCHILL’S FUNERAL John Claypool in Leadership

Winston Churchill had planned his funeral, which took place in St. Paul’s Cathedral. He included many of the great hymns of the church and used the eloquent Anglican liturgy. At his direction, a bugler, positioned high in the dome of St. Paul’s, intoned, after the benediction the sound of "Taps," the universal signal that says the day is over.

But then came the most dramatic turn: as Churchill instructed, as soon as "Taps" was finished, another bugler, placed on the other side of the dome, played the notes of "Reveille" – "It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up in the morning."

That was Churchill’s testimony that at the end of history, the last note will not be "Taps;" it will be "Reveille." The worst things are never the last things.

Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back into the same box.

DEATH AND SEEING JFK R.Digest 8/97 p. 13ff

As a picture of young JFK at the tiller of a small sailboat appeared, Luke asked, "Who is that man?"

"It's John Kennedy. He was the President of the United States."

"Where is he now?"

"He's dead."

"He's not dead. He's running the boat." The image changed, and we saw JFK giving his inaugural address. "See, there he is some more."

"Well, that was a long time ago. He's dead now, Luke."

My son looked into my face to see if I was teasing. "Is he all dead?"

"Yes."

"His feet dead?"

"Yes."

"His head dead?"

"Yes."

This last question was followed by a long, thoughtful pause. Then he said, "Well, he certainly speaks very well."

Although I tried not to, I laughed, because he had been so earnest in examining the problem. After the JFK incident, Luke seemed haunted by the problem of death and dying. Thereafter, almost every walk in the woods became a search for a dead field mouse or raccoon or bird. He would squat down over the find and make up stories about what the animal had been doing when it died. Sometimes we held small funerals.

I was concerned, of course, The idea of death is a big thing for a 3 year old to get a handle on.

REFLECTIONS OF CHILD'S PASSING Nicholas Solterstorff

One bright Sunday afternoon, a numbing phone call brought news of a mountain climbing accident. In his book Lament For A Son, the bereaved father reflects upon his painful feelings... "Gone from the face of the earth. I wait for a group of students to cross the street, and suddenly I think. He is not there. I go to a ballgame and find myself singing out the 25 year olds; none of them is he. In all the crowds and streets and rooms and churches and schools, and libraries and gathering of friends in our world, on all the mountains, I will not find him. Only his absence.

"Silence, 'Was there a letter from Eric today? When did Eric say he would call?' Now only silence. Absence, and silence.

When we gather now there's always someone missing, his absence as present as our presence, his silence as loud as our speech. Still 5 children, but one always gone. When we're all together, we're not all together.

It's the neverness that is so painful. Never again to be here with us - never to sit with us at a table. Never to travel with us. Never to laugh with us. Never to cry with us. Never to embrace us as he leaves for school. Never to see his brothers and sisters marry. All the rest of our lives we must live without him.

THE TRUTHS OF DEATH Bernadine Healy, M.D. R.Digest 6/97 p. 47 (from a speech)

As a physician who has been deeply privileged to share the most profound moments of people's lives, including their final moments, let me tell you a secret. People facing death don't think about what degrees they have earned, what positions they have held or how much wealth they have accumulated. At the end, what really matters - and is a good measure of a past life - is who you loved and who loved you. The circle of love is everything.

It's a little like the Alfred Hitchcock story that Charles Swindol referred to in his book "Growing Deep." The TV program told the story of a woman who had been convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. On here way by bus to the penitentiary, she noted a man coming out of a side gate of the wall, carting a coffin for burial. At that moment, she began to fashion a plan of escape.

After a short period of time, she managed to become close with the old man and found that the reason he was entrusted with the burial tasks was that he was old and going blind. He confided in her that if he didn't have cataract surgery soon, he would lose all of his sight. Slyly (but apparently without intent to follow through) she offered that if he would help her escape, she knew people on the outside that would arrange to finance his operation. Desperate for such help, he agreed.

He told her to listen for the next tolling of the bell, which would indicate that another inmate had died, and then make her way down to the room where he prepared the bodies. There she would find the casket with its corpse and she was to lay down in the box, carefully pulling the lid down tightly over her. He would later come and cart the coffin off to the grave, bury it in the grave, and return later to help her out of the casket.

In time, the bell tolled, and she made her way down to the casket, pulled the lid down tight and waited. After a long wait, someone finally came and nailed the lid down, lifted the casket onto a cart and wheeled her out to the grave, burying it in the hole. Hours stretched on into hours, and at length, she began to panic. Where was he? Shakily lighting a match, she peered over at the corpse and sure enough - saw it was the old man who was supposed to let her out.

Swindoll comments: "Slowly, the camera lifts from the gravesite, and all you can hear is the hollow, wailing cry of a woman who will never get out of the grave."

She had manipulated all of her circumstances believing that her own guile would enable her to escape her prison, only to realize that in the end she had merely succeeded in entombing herself without hope.

USING GRAVE STONE RIGHT NOW R.Digest 5/97 Harriett Henderson p.73

Having been warned by several of us not to divulge that she was a widow living alone, my mother tried to persuade a persistent telemarketer that she did not need a cemetery plot. "If I could just speak to your husband, I'm sure I could sell him one," the caller said.

"I don't think so," my exasperated mother replied, "He's using his right now."

NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE RESULTS US News 3/31/97 pp. 59-64

No matter what the nature of the experience, it alters some lives. Alcoholics find themselves unable to imbibe. Hardened criminals opt for a life of helping others. Atheists embrace the existence of a deity, while dogmatic members of a particular religion report "feeling welcome in any church or temple or mosque."

Such dramatic changes have piqued the imagination of those searching for evidence of the mystical. Bruce Greyson, 50, is a psychiatrist at the University of Virginia Medical School who has spent much of his professional life investigating these events as possible "peepholes" into a world beyond. Greyson says that those who have such experiences "become enamored with the spiritual part of life, and less so with possessions, power and prestige."

A block from the University of Virginia's Charlottesville campus..., Greyson and Ian Stevenson, 79, are in the middle of a 3 year $250,000 study they hope will answer many of the questions that, in their view, the physiological approach doesn't address.

Greyson and Stevenson have been instrumental in gathering evidence indicating that religious backgrounds do not affect who is most likely to have an NDE (near death experience). They have mapped out the conversion like effects of NDEs that can sometimes lead to hardship. ("They can see the good in all people," Greyson says of people who have experienced the phenomenon: "They act fairly naive, and they often allow themselves to be opened up to con men who abuse their trust.") They have gathered reports of high divorce rates and problems in the workplace following near death experiences. "The values you get from an NDE are not the ones you need to function in everyday life," says Greyson. Having stared eternity in the face, he observes, those who return often lose their taste for ego boosting achievement.

THE MEASURING RODS OF LIFE Nathan C. Schaeffer

At the close of life the question will be not how much have you got, but how much have you given; not how much have you won, but how much have you done; not how much have you saved, but how much have you sacrificed; how much have you loved and served, not how much were you honored.

The Body

of

Benjamin Franklin, printer

(Like the cover of an old book,

Its contents torn out,

And stripped of its lettering and gilding.)

Lies here food for worms.

Yet the work itself shall not be lost,

For it will (as he believes) appear once

more

In a new

And beautiful Edition

Corrected and Amended

By

The Author.

DEATH'S CHARTED TERRITORY Charles Kingsley

It is not darkness you are going to, for God is Light. It is not lonely, for Christ is with you. It is not an unknown country, for Christ is there.

"How is your wife?" the man asked his old friend whom he'd not seen in years.

"She's in heaven," replied the friend.

"Oh, I'm sorry." the first sympathized. But then realizing that this wasn't quite what he wanted to say added, "I mean I'm glad."

That sounded even worse, so he finally blurted out: "Well, I'm surprised."

Gathered from old records were these comments on the departing of certain citizens:

"Went to bed feeling well, but woke up dead."

"Died suddenly. Nothing serious."

"Don't know. Died without the aid of a physician."

"Blow on the head with an ax. Contributory cause: another man's wife."

"Had never been fatally ill before."

BODY LOST ON WAY TO FUNERAL The Indianapolis Star 9/18/96 B3

AP Portage, IN - Relatives of a woman whose casket was misplaced twice while en route to a Tennessee cemetery are outraged at what they say was the airline's mistake....

Following funeral services at Portage, Mary Chrisman's body was to have been flown to Nashville, Tenn., to be buried beside her husband.

The family chose Delta Airlines to take the casket carrying her body to Tennessee, but, somehow, the casket was delivered to not one, but two, wrong funeral homes.

Kelly Martinez, Chrisman's granddaughter, said the mishap has caused the family pain and embarrassment. She said the ordeal was made comical through the front page news, television news and talk radio shows in Tennessee.

"The family was not laughing at this. We don't think it was funny," said Martinez of Portage.

"Delta said they were sorry and would pay for the airfare," Martinez said.

Pat Brown, Chrisman's daughter, said she was distressed when the airline could not locate her mother's body. "Her biggest fear was being left alone, and that's all I could think of," Brown said.

Chrisman died Sept. 7 after a long illness. Portage funeral services were conducted Sept. 9, and her body was to have been flown from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago to Nashville. The body arrived instead in Cincinnati, where a Kentucky funeral home that was expecting a body picked it up. After realizing it was the wrong body, the funeral home returned it, only to have a Jackson, Miss., funeral home pick it up.

Chrisman's body was to have arrived at the Nashville funeral home early on Sept. 10. The body of a man arrived instead. It wasn't until nearly 11 p.m. that night that Chrisman's body was found.

CROSSWORD FAN IS 6 DOWN R.Digest 5/96 p. 15

One morning at our small town newspaper office, one of the editors was struggling to write a headline for the obituary of a woman who was noted for little besides a fondness for crossword puzzles. "What am I supposed to write," whined the editor, "She liked puzzles?"

Just then one of our copy editors piped up, "How about, 'Crossword fan is now six down?"

Do you remember that time in your life when you first realized just how fleeting and fragile life truly is? For me that time came when I was in my early twenties. My father and I had always talked of taking a nice long fishing trip. Finally, our plans were made. I arrived home from seminary on a Wednesday evening and began preparing, I thought, for one of the best weeks of my life. The fishing gear was packed; the maps were laid out. In a few hours my father and I would leave for our adventure.

I knew something was wrong when I entered the house. My wife, with a sober look on her face, asked me to be seated. "David, I'm sorry, but I have sad news. Your father had a heart attack this morning and he is dead." I sat shocked and numb; it seemed like a bad dream. My Father was only forty-six. He had never had a heart attack before. Within seconds his life was over.

Before my father's death I believed in death; I believed death happened; I believed death happened to them. It was different now; death happens to us, to mine, to me! Unless the Lord Jesus returns first, death will again knock on the doors of people I love the most. Death will someday knock on my door. Hopefully, I have grappled with the I reality of my own mortality. As the roots I of my faith grow deeper, my own death I seems less frightening.

Life's small exams prepare us for the final exam. Life's "little deaths" deepen our faith and prepare us for the day when our loved ones die or we ourselves face death. Death will surely knock at our door. In Christ, hopefully we will answer the door with the words of Paul on our lips: "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Phil. 1:21).

I. Paul's Departure II Timothy 4:6

In the closing lines of the final letter of Paul's life, he writes to Timothy, "For I am now ready to be offerer and the time of my departure is at hand." The word which Paul chose to express his departure, 'analusis,' from which our word analysis originates, is very unique and picturesque. First of all, within the New Testament, 26 different Greek words are translated depart, departing or departure. The one chosen by Paul occurs only in this verse. In fact, Liddell and Scott list Paul's use of this word as the only example in the Greek language of it being used to refer to death.. (A Greek-English Lexicon Henry G. Liddell & Robert Scott, 7th edition, 1889, p. 103.)

The beauty of this word is seen in the words from which it is formed; "ana" and "lusis." The root of this word, lusis, was used extensively as a legal term to designate release from a binding obligation. An illustration of this is found in the release from a loan in a document dated 101 A.D. According to this document, Artemidorus loaned Dionysius and his wife 472 drachmae, an amount which required three houses and a number of parcels of land as security. Since they had repaid this loan, Artemidorus releases them from it by writing:

Accordingly in release (lusis) of the mortgage (Artemidorus) has forthwith handed over to the other parties (Dionysius and his wife)... the binding contract of loan and the tax-receipts,... and acknowledges the further receipt from them of the interest upon the capital sum... and that neither Artemidorus himself nor any other person on his behalf either makes or will make any claim or will proceed against the other parties to the agreement... (The Oxyrhynchus Papyri vol. 3, pp. 241-2, papyrus 510).

As this example clearly illustrates, lusis indicates the release from a binding contract because the obligations of that contract were fulfilled. Another example of this meaning is found in the New Testament. In dealing with marriage, Paul writes, "Art thou bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed," lusis (I Cor. 7:27). Again, the idea expressed: is the release from a legal obligation?

The preposition "ana" which is attached to "lusis," expresses the basic meaning of up. Even when it is attached to a word written composition, it remains the idea of the direction up (A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, Dana & Mantey ,p.99).

Examine this word within the context of Paul's usage. Paul was viewing his death as a release upward from his binding contract. The contract was the work which he was called to do. Furthermore, he was entitled to this release because he had fulfilled the obligations of the contract. This is shown in the statement which follows, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" (II Tim. 4:6).

What a beautiful way to view death! The release from our binding, contractual obligations to God as a child of God. Most of us look forward to the day when the mortgage on our house is paid off. Should not we also look forward to the day when God releases us from our obligation to Him through death?

There is no death! The stars go down to rise upon some other shore,

And bright in heaven's jeweled crown They shine for evermore.

There is no death! the dust we tread shall change beneath the summer showers

To golden grain, or mellow fruit, Or rainbow-tinted flowers.

There is no death! An angel form Walks over the earth with a silent tread;

He bears our best loved ones away, And then we call them "dead. "

Born unto that undying life They leave us but to come again;

With joy we welcome them--the same except no sin or pain.

And ever near us, though unseen, The dear immortal spirits tread;

For all the boundless universe is life--there are no dead!

A man in Iowa discovered that had terminal cancer. For weeks he moped around the house avoiding loved ones, inwardly cursing God and wondering why this tragedy had happened to him.

Then one day he made a decision: "I am not dead yet, and I am going to live each day to its fullest the rest of my life. Sometime later, when he was interviewed, he said he had experienced more abundant life in the weeks after that decision than during his prior forty two years - colors seemed more vivid, the laughter of his children more bright and precious.

One of the suggestions he gave help others with terminal illness was "Consider each day as a gift from God; enjoy it fully." From an article entitled "Overcoming Self-pity" by Pam Richardson.

Tell me not in mournful numbers, that Life is but an empty dream! -

For the soul is dead that slumbers, and things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest, was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each tomorrow find us farther than today.

In the world's broad field of battle, in the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle! Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, however pleasant! Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act, - act in the living Present! Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o'er life's solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, seeing, shall take heart again.

NAME WRITTEN IN WATER Anthony Campolo "Who Switched The Price Tags?"

Fifty people over the age of 95 were asked to respond to one question: "If you could live your life over again, what would you do differently?" It was an open-ended question, and these elderly people were allowed to respond in unstructured ways. As you might imagine, a multiplicity of answers cam from these eldest of senior citizens. However, 3 answers constantly re-emerged and dominated the results of the study. These 3 answers were:
1. I would reflect more

2. I would risk more

3. I would do more things that would live on after I am dead.

Let's return to the study of the fifty elderly subjects who were asked what they would

have done differently if they had life to live over again. "We would have done more things that would live on after we are dead," they said.

There is a latent desire in every human being to do something of worth that will have lasting significance. There is a longing in most people to do something that will make life better for others. According to the Spanish existentialist Miguel de Unamuno, "There is an urge in every man to render himself indispensable.

When we confront the reality of death, we become fully aware of the importance of leaving something good behind. That is why young people give little thought to the significance of their lives, while the elderly think about it all the time. In the face of the end of life, questions about its significance loom large. Many who have been blasé about the meaning of life approach death at the end of it fearing that their epitaph will read like that on the tomb of the poet Keats: "Here lies one whose name is writ in water."

YOU'RE GOING TO DIE! Anthony Campolo "Who Switched the Price Tags"

Each year we have a student recognition day at our church. On the Sunday between Christmas and New Year's Day, we ask the young people of our church who are students at colleges and universities to give us reports of how their educational experiences have been going. It is a very special Sunday because ours is a Black Baptist church. The older members of our congregation have not had the educational opportunities that our young people enjoy. Consequently, they love to hear about what their children and grandchildren are learning.

On one such Sunday, after half a dozen students had given their reports, my pastor got up and delivered some closing words. "Children," he said, "you're doing to die! You may not think you're going to die. But you're going to die. One of these days, they're going to take you out to the cemetery, drop you in a hole, throw some dirt on your face, and go back to the church and eat potato salad.

"When you were born," he said, "you alone were crying and everybody else was happy. The important question I want to ask is this: When you die are you alone going to be happy, leaving everybody else crying? The answer depends on whether you live to get titles or you live to get testimonies. When they lay you in the grave, are people going to stand around reciting the fancy titles you earned, or are they going to stand around giving testimonies of the good things you did for them? Will they list your degrees and awards, or will they tell about what a blessing you were to them? Will you leave behind just a newspaper column telling people how important you were, or will you leave crying people who give testimonies of how they've lost the best friend they ever had? There's nothing wrong with titles. Titles are good things to have. But if it ever comes down to a choice between a title or a testimony-go for the testimony.

Then he went on a "poetic rip. He went on the kind of rip that makes Black preaching extra special. He went through the Bible talking about those people who had titles and the ones who had testimonies. He rhythmically shouted his sermon, each line stronger than the one before:

Pharaoh may have had the title . . .

But Moses had the testimony!

Nebuchadnezzar may have had the title . . .

But Daniel had the testimony!

Queen Jezebel may have had the title . . .

But Elijah had the testimony!

Each line and refrain was greeted with shouts of godly praise from the congregation. The people shouted "Amen!" and Preach it..." more loudly and more enthusiastically with each refrain. The upraised hands and the cries of "Well!" gave all the evidence needed that this preacher was "on" and that people were being blessed. He kept it up, hammering away at the contrasts that exist between those who have the titles and those who have the testimonies. When he got the climax of his message, he simply screamed "Pilate may have had the title..." then he paused for what seemed like an eternity before letting fly... "But my JESUS had the testimony!"

THE DECEASED: A woman in Cherokee County, North Carolina.

THE BEQUEST: She left her entire estate to God.

WHAT HAPPENED: The court instructed the county sheriff to find the beneficiary. A few days later, the sheriff returned and submitted his report: "After due and diligent search, God cannot be found in this county."

THE DECEASED: A rich, unmarried New Yorker. Died: 1880.

THE BEQUEST: He left everything to his nephews and nieces, with the exception of 11 pairs of pants. He wrote: "I enjoin my executors to hold a public sale at which these trousers shall be sold to the highest bidder, and the proceeds distributed to the poor. No one purchaser is to buy more than one set of pants.

WHAT HAPPENED: The Auction took place. Each person who bought a pair of pants, upon examining their purchase, discovered "a $1000 bill sewn into a pocket."

BURIED IN CORVETTE TO TAKE IT WITH HIM Our Daily Bread

Under the headline CAR LOVER BURIED IN CORVETTE, the newspaper column opened with: "If there is a highway to heaven, George Swanson may get to the Pearly Gates in style. He was buried in his white Corvette." His wife Carolyn said, "A lot of people say they want to take it with them. Well, he took it with him."

COULDN'T TAKE IT WITH HIM 7/97 R.Digest page 61 Contributed by Gene Jennings

The miserly millionaire called a family conference. I'm placing a box of money in the attic," he said. "When I die, I intend to grab it on my way up to heaven. See to it that no one touches it until it's my time to go."

The family respected his wishes. After his death the millionaire's wife looked in the attic. The box was still there. "The fool!" she said. "I told him he should have put it in the basement."

COUNSELING THE GRIEVING - Barbara Walters as quoted in R.Digest 4/84 p.160

There's a Hebrew proverb about "wearing out" grief - if you bottle it up you'll never soften it. So when meeting a friend for the first time after there has been a death close to him, offer condolences. Keep it brief and simple; then ask a question that will allow him to keep his composure. It can be related to the death, but not to his feeling of loss. Ask if most of the family were able to attend the funeral, or if he plans to go away for a while. If you are alone and the death is recent, the person may want to talk of nothing else, may need to talk of nothing else.

"Give sorrow words," said Shakespeare. "The grief that does not speak whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break."

NO REFILLS - R.Digest 4/84 p. 186

A distraught patient phoned her doctor's office. Was it true, the woman wanted to know, that the medication the doctor had prescribed was for the rest of her life? She was told it was.

There was a moment of silence before the woman continued, "I'm wondering then, just how serious my condition is. This prescription is marked "no refills."

AN EXCEPTION FOR ME? R. Digest 12/81 p.136

Author William Saroyan who once wrote that "the best part" of a man "stays forever," died in May of 1981 after a 2 year bout with cancer. Only five days before he was hospitalized in April he telephoned the Associated Press to report that cancer had spread to several of his vital organs. He then gave this final statement to be used after his death:

"Everybody has got to die, but I have always believed an exception would be made in my case. Now what?"

WHAT MOURNERS ARE WE TRAINING by Robert T. Morris

I hate funerals and would not attend my own if it could be avoided, but it is well for every man to stop once in a while to think of what sort of a collection of mourners he is training for his final event.

THE STING OF DEATH & THE ELDER BROTHER (funeral for Don Lahrman)

A man and his two sons were out walking in the woods one day when a bee was disturbed and began to buzz around them. It stung the older of the two boys and that child fell to the ground writhing in pain. Then the bee began to attack the younger boy and he began screaming and rolling in the grass to get away from the insect. The father then got hold of his youngest son and finally got him to tame down enough to explain that he was in no danger - the bee's stinger was lost when his elder brother had been stung. So also, death holds no fear for us who are Christians because our elder brother has taken the stinger from death.

NO FEAR IN THE CEMETERY (funeral for Don Lahrman)

A young girl had to go home each night and walked thru a cemetery because it was the shortest route. When asked why she had no fear of passing thru the graveyard she responded "my home is just on the other side."

POEM ON FOOTPRINTS Pulpit Helps Oct. 1991 p.8

As you walk on the sands of time,

Take care what your footprints reveal.

So the imprint you leave may be that of a soul

and not that of a heel!

INVISIBLE WORLD Leadership Winter '84, p.49

From the Christian's point of view, the notable thing about the unbeliever's world is how much smaller it is. The unbeliever is imprisoned in a decaying universe.

Imagine you took a child to the theatre to see some tragedy like, say, Hamlet, at the end of which the stage is littered with corpses. And suppose you had difficulty comforting the child afterward, so distressed was he at the spectacle of the deaths. "But the man who played Hamlet is not really dead," you explain. "He is an actor. He also lives a life outside the theater. He has a wife and family and, far from being dead, he is probably now at home with them enjoying a late supper."

If there is one word the Christian secretly wants to use to describe the unbeliever's outlook, it is literal... like a child who takes the play for reality.

BLIND EYES CAN SEE - GHANDI VS. SANKEY Pulpit Helps 5/92, p.21

Two famous men faced death and left behind words worth repeating. The renowned Indian leader, Ghandi, said as he neared death: "My days are numbered. For the 1st time in 50 years I find myself in the slough of despond. All about me is darkness...."

In contrast, Ira Sankey, beloved hymn writer, lived in Brooklyn the last few years of his life, and after years of blindness died in 1908. But out of his blindness and frailty, he dictated a farewell message to his friends: "I have only a little longer of earthly darkness, and then the sunshine of the Father's throne. God is love. Good night, good night."

Ghandi led a nation while Sankey only led singing. But Sankey's blind eyes could see God when it mattered the most. The gospel made the difference.

QUOTE: There is no repentance in the Grave. - Isaac Watts

BEYOND DEATH Pulpit Helps 10/92 p. 16

A sick man turned to his doctor who was leaving the room after paying a visit and said, "Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side." Very quietly the doctor said, "I do not know." "You do not know? You are a Christian man and you do not know what is on the other side?"

The doctor was holding the handle of the door, on the other side of which came the sound of scratching and whining, and as he opened the door a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness. Turning to the patient, the doctor said, "Did you notice that dog? He has never been in this room before. He did not know what was inside. He knew nothing except that his master was here, and when the door opened he sprang in without fear. I know little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing: I know my Master is there, and that is enough. And when the door opens, I shall pass through with no fear, but with gladness.

LEAVING PLENTY BEHIND Pulpit Helps 11/92 p.15

Although the rich try hard to hold on to life, they cannot help but give it up. The rich die too.

A very rich businessman died. As soon as people heard about it, they each began to give their evaluation of the man.

Someone said, "He died rich!"

Another said, "He accumulated great wealth."

Another said, "He was an excellent businessman."

Still another said, "He left great wealth behind him."

It so happened that a poor man heard these comments and added his two cents: "the truth is that he left everything that he made behind, he didn't send anything ahead; therefore, he'll end living in poverty for eternity."

FROM THE MOUTHS OF BABES Guidepost, 8/92 p.20ff by Diana M. Komp, M.D.

The silence of the room was broken only by the smothered sobs of Anna's mother and the occasional murmur of the hospital chaplain, who was as confused and speechless as I was. The wan little girl, her hair long since gone from chemotherapy, lay still on her pillow. It was clear she had only a short while left.

Suddenly Anna's eyes opened - bright blue and luminous. She sat upright in bed, exclaiming in a clear voice, "The angels - they're so beautiful! Mommy, can you see them? Do you hear their singing? I've never heard such beautiful singing!" Then she sank back on her pillow and was gone.

The moment that followed was filled with a mixture of emotions. Her parents' faces were radiant; they'd been given a most precious gift, the reassurance that death is not the end. (she then notes that this one of the many experiences that shook her out of her agnostic disbelief in God)

Then came Mary Beth. She was a shy child who came to me when she was six. She had cancer, but in deference to her parents' wishes none of us discussed Mary Beth's worsening condition in her presence. After a brief remission her disease recurred, and shortly before Christmas she returned to the hospital. She wasn't afraid, since she had already made friends with the pediatric nurses.

After Mary Beth's treatment, her blood counts indicated she was not responding, and she was discharged to come back as an outpatient. On one of these visits, her mother took me aside. "I'm baffled by a dream that Mary Beth has shared with me," she said in low tones. "She told me that Jesus came to her with her grandfather. Together they told her of her impending death and encouraged her not to be afraid."

"What puzzles me," she continued, her brow furrowing, "is Mary Beth never met this grandfather. He died before she was born. But when I showed her an old family group photo, she picked him right out."

Right after Christmas her mother phoned. Mary Beth had died peacefully at home on Christmas Eve.

There was young Tom, who eagerly told me of a vision he had of being in a beautiful garden "with a man who walked with me and talked with me." Tom had never heard of that old hymn, "In the Garden," but he did recognize the man as Jesus.

I also learned from the parents. Some understandably angry at their loss, momentarily "hated" God, but they did not lose their belief. I found that those who walk through the valley of the shadow of death don't walk alone. God becomes a co-sufferer with all grieving parents through the gift and death of His own beloved Son.

COULDN'T PAY THE PRICE R.Digest 1/93 p. 13

The body of a man who died of cancer was dumped on his son's doorstep after the son was unable to pay the full price of cremation. George Bojarski, covered only with a sheet, was found at the door of Larry Bojarski's apartment in Richmond, TX..

Larry Bojarski said he went to pay Evens Mortuary $279 of the $683 he was charged to have his father cremated. He said he wanted to discuss some kind of payment plan but was told he would have to get the rest of the money by the next day, and if he didn't pay, his father's body would be returned to him.

Newell Evans, owner of Evans Mortuary, said he returned the body but it wasn't done to be malicious. "Who says I 'dumped' him there? I placed him there."

JESUS DIDN'T PERFORM FUNERALS Dr. E. Stanley Jones "A Song of Ascents"

Dr. Jones, a missionary tells about a layman, who was called upon to conduct a funeral service. Being a dedicated man, he wanted to do it right and proper. So he turned to the New Testament as the original source and example of how Jesus conducted a funeral. And he found that Jesus didn't conduct any funerals at all. All Jesus dealt with were resurrections.

LIFE AFTER DEATH? R.Digest 3/76 p.79

"Do you believe in life after death?" the boss asked his younger employee.

"Yes, sir."

"Well, then, that makes everything just fine," the boss went on. "About an hour after you left yesterday to go to your grandfather's funeral, he stopped in to see you."

TALMUD ON DEATH R.Digest 9/77 p.107

"In a harbor, 2 ships sailed: one setting forth on a voyage, the other coming home to port. Everyone cheered the ship going out, but the ship sailing in was scarcely noticed. To this, a wise man said: 'Do not rejoice over a ship setting out to sea, for you cannot know what terrible storms it may encounter, and what fearful dangers it may have to endure. Rejoice rather over the ship that has safely reached port and brings its passengers home in peace.'

"And this is the way of the world; When a child is born, all rejoice; when someone dies, all weep. We should do the opposite. For no one can tell what trials and travails await a newborn child; but when a mortal dies in peace, we should rejoice, for there is no greater boon than to leave this world with the imperishable crown of a good name."

DEATHBED STATEMENTS R.Digest 7/79 p.123

The painter Perugino was unrepentant at his deathbed, refusing to see a priest: "I am curious to see what happens in the next world to one who dies unshriven." Heinrich Heine guessed it didn't matter: "God will forgive me... it's his profession."

GONNA DO NOTHING R.Digest 10/78 p.186

In a London Churchyard, the grave of what must have been an overworked housewife bears this epitaph:

Weep not for me, friends,

Though death do us sever.

I am going to do nothing

Forever and ever.

COMFORTING THE GRIEVING R.Digest 5/76 p. 207

In a difficult situation, the "right thing to do" is not hard to find if you let people's feelings come through to you and acknowledge your own. Not long ago, the minister of our church had to carry tragic news to the parents of a 12 year old boy: their son had drowned on a school outing. Later, the parents told me, "Mr. Allen didn't preach or tell us to be brave. He broke down into tears and wept with us. We will always love him for that."

TAKE CARE OF THE LIVING Karl Klostermeier May 1992

"One of life's terrible and tragic ironies is that it wasn't until I discovered my mortality - it wasn't until I faced the fact that I was going to die - that I finally began to live. For it is really death that makes life precious, and dying that makes living worth celebrating after all, simply because the living we, to some degree, can control while the dying we simply can't, even though we spend our lives trying.

Out of that realization, then, comes some profound wisdom: life and living is precious, so celebrate it when and while you can.

But how do you do that? How do you do that when you know all too good and well that death and dying is there just around the corner somewhere? Well, let me share with you my answer: do the living and leave the dying to God.

We can't control death, but he can. That's what Easter is all about, for that's what God did in Jesus' rising at Easter - he took control of death when and where we could not. That doesn't mean that He took it away. it's still there because we are. But He took away its victory and its hold and brought life from it anew and again.

That leaves us in charge again - in charge of living. And in the Easter event God calls us to do that to our very best."

FACING DEATH OPEN HANDED Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

Each of us comes into life with fists closed, set for aggressiveness and acquisition. But when we abandon life, our hands are open; there is nothing that we need, nothing the soul can take with it.

BLIND WOMAN'S VISION R.Digest 4/76 p. 70

When speaking with a Helen Keller, Lilli Palmer asked "Do you believe in life after death?"

"Most certainly," she said emphatically "It is no more than passing from one room into another."

We sat in silence for a moment. Then, slowly and very distinctly, she spoke again: "But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other - room - I shall be able to see."

REMARKS r. digest November 1974

An old Thetford farm family was gathered around the kitchen table to fill out the insurance forms for the farmer who had fallen off the barn roof, broken his neck and died. They recorded all the facts as best they could - hour and nature of the accident, and so on - and finally, under the reading REMARKS, solemnly wrote: "He didn't make none."

TOMBSTONE HUMOR Uncle John's 2nd Bathroom Reader

Seen in Falkird, Scotland:

Solomon Pease

Here under this sod, and under these trees

Is buried the body of Solomon Pease

But here in this hole lies only the pod

His soul is shelled out, and gone up to God.

Seen in Kent, England:

Grim death took me without any warning.

I was well at night, and dead in the morning.

THOSE ARE THE PLACES TO LOOK The Newsletter Newsletter, October 1994

A man met a friend of his one morning and hailed him with, "Say, Sam, have you seen Melvin lately? I've been looking high and low for him."

"Well," said the friend, "those are the places to look. He died in January."

GOING OUT WITH BANG Dayton Daily News, 8/14/94, p.2A

Brian Kelly, a fireworks handler, went out with a bang Friday night during the grand finale at a convention of fireworks technicians about 40 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. As he was dying in July of complications from intestinal surgery, Kelly, of suburban Detroit, told family members he wanted his ashes loaded into a fireworks shell. The shell exploded into red and green stars.

"I'll lend to you for a little time,

A child of mine," He said,

"For you to love the while he lives

And mourn for when he's dead.

It may be six of seven years

Or twenty-two or three,

But will you till I call him back,

Take care of him for me?

He'll bring his charms to gladden you

And should his stay be brief,

You'll have these precious memories,

As solace for your grief.

I cannot promise he will stay

Since all from earth return.

But there are lessons taught down there

I want this child to learn.

I've looked this whole world over,

In my search for teachers true.

And in the crowds that throng life's land,

I have selected you.

Now will you give him all your love

Not think the labor vain,

Nor hate me when I come to call

To take him back again?"

It seems to me I heard them say,

"Dear Lord, Thy will be done.

For all the joys thy child shall bring,

The risk of grief we'll run.

We'll shelter him with tenderness,

We'll love him while we may,

And for the happiness we've known

Forever grateful stay.

And should the angels call for him

Much sooner than we've planned,

We'll brave the bitter grief that comes

And try to understand."

Visitors to the Fiji Islands tell of a strange custom of "calling the dead." The one who has suffered bereavement climbs to a high tree of a cliff, and after mentioning the name of the deceased he cries out pathetically, "Come back! Come back!" The heart-rending wail is filled with despair, with only the mocking echoes to underscore its sad frustration! Those who have recently lost a precious companion, a dear friend, or a beloved child, can well appreciate the forlorn figure. Just imagine the look upon his face as with tears streaming down his cheeks he pitifully continues to plead for the return of his loved one.

USA Today -- Sept. 4, 1985 -- The discovery of the fabled luxury liner Titanic -- in "a high state of preservation" and resting upright in more than 13,000 feet of water -- stirred a new debate of whether to raise the ship that spawned a mystique -- and became a synonym of calamity -- or let it rest forever in the deep.

Robert Ballard, leader of a USA-France expedition that located the ship last weekend, said the site would be a memorial to the 1,513 who died when the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on April 14, 1912.

"I see nothing to gain. The souls have now been located, and they're fine where they are."

God may have temporarily left their bodies at the bottom of the ocean, but their souls were summoned to God. And only He knows exactly where each one is!

HE THOUGHT TO BUY APARTMENT Time, 1/8/96 p. 26

In 1965, lawyer Adre Francois Raffray agreed to "purchase" the house of an elderly client with $500 a month installments, then a steep price - on condition that he would inherit the property outright the moment she died (a common practice in France). Last week, 30 years older and $180,000 poorer, Raffray, 77, expired on Christmas Day. His client, Jeanne Calment, celebrated the holiday with a sumptuous hotel banquet in her hometown of Arles. "We all make bad deals in life," she joked to Raffray when she turned 120 early last year. She is now officially the oldest person in the world.