Guest Post from Charlie- Walking with Mom

On a Sunday two weekends ago, I asked my mother a question that I had not planned on asking for many years.  As we were walking peacefully side by side on a crisp fall day, I asked, “Mom, are you afraid to die?”  I don’t, no didn’t, think much about death.  It’s not that I actively seek to avoid thinking about it.  It’s just not a part of my normal existence.  And so, other than a few practical conversations regarding estate planning and life insurance, I hadn’t thought to ask Mom or Dad how they felt about dying.  That was a question I’d ask one day, sitting at the family house, grown myself, with my own family, mom and dad’s grandchildren, running around.  But with brain cancer, death stares you right in the face.  You must uncover your eyes, look at it right back, and decide what you are going to do about it.  So it was hard, but I asked the question.

However, this is not a sad story.  Somewhere in our circumstances as a family, there is a one-eighty degree turn.  Somewhere, staring down what might be a tragic loss turns into joy, real, peaceful joy.  And that’s what I heard in Mom’s answer. 

We all have a certain amount of time allotted to us.  On the face of it, there seems only one way to approach this – to try and squeeze the maximum amount of satisfaction out of the time we are granted.  Looking it at this way, Mom’s cancer is a roadblock.  It gives her pain, slows her enjoyment, requires sacrifices from each of us affected.  And death, well, death is an ominous reality, a time bomb methodically ticking down to a certain fate. 

But Mom, she found something else to live for.  She began a relationship with the Being who created time and all this around us.  And that’s when the 180 happened. 

What happened was that God showed her that there is more to life than simply one’s own happiness.  Instead, everything in life is woven together as a perfect tapestry, seamlessly perfected for each of our benefit.  What we need most is to be in love with our Creator.  And every moment in history is tailor-made with that in mind.  God is so passionate about my Mother knowing Him that He came and died for her to pay the punishment her sins deserved.  She has a pure, intimate relationship with her Father because of what His Son did on the Cross.  Because of his work, no sin, no failure, no weakness gets in her way of fellowship with God. 

This means that cancer is not a roadblock.  It is an opportunity to see in a new way what God has in the life.  And death is not a time bomb.  It’s a door, swung open, to be truly alive, in the presence of her Creator, with no worries, no pain, and no weakness.

And so, we stopped briefly in our walk after I asked, “Mom, are you afraid to die?”  Looking up at me, without hesitation, Mom answered. “No”, she said. “Not at all.”  We continued walking, not sure what new thing our Father has for us next.

Tonight, before Thanksgiving, I'm grateful that we can have such assurance.  It's only through the work of the Father.  Blessings to you and your family tomorrow!

- Charlie