Mist

Life is but a mist...here today and gone tomorrow.

I have been reminded of this and it has been keenly felt. It seems that the frailty of life is all around me, the every passing moment comes and goes and I find myself looking back in the rear view mirror flying down the highway we call life.

James 4:14 Why, you do not even know what will happen
tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears
for a little while and then vanishes.

Life is indeed a mist. I now have two acquaintances in the hospital in serious situations and a friend with cancer, all of these people my age. It is no longer the older generation or someday but it is ever present and real this week. My friend Aaron, the one with cancer, has decided to choose joy, this is a purposeful and bone grinding endeavor at times but it is a choice, and I love it. I love seeing this lived out in the way he chooses to love his wife, chooses to love the Body of Christ, and chooses to love... well, me. He is choosing joy in spite of his situation, a revolution of the heart!

I find joy in the brevity of life but I also am, at times, reminded of the sting. One of my favorite bands from back in the day had an album that dealt with that issue. I love imagery, some of you know that, it brings color into the text that sears my mind with lessons transformed into life. It is a band that most of you would hate, that is okay, don't listen. The band was One:21, pulling their name from Philippians 1:21, "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain." They are wonderful Christ followers and truly humble guys. I had the pleasure of hanging with them on several occasions and they always boldly lived their faith in humility. The chorus has bounced around my head all week,

Death, you will die, The dragon is finally laid to rest

Death is a dragon. It desires to destroy us and to take from us all that is valued on this earth. It is a beast that looms before us all, bigger than our puffed chests and fortunate circumstances, you can't beat it, you can't assuage it, and you can't pay it off...on your own. The dragon has been laid to rest, it no longer has victory over us because we have been freed from sin. Nodding to 1 Cor. 15:55, One:21 brings imagery to these sacred words.

Leaving friends is hard, those that you have labored alongside, stepping through the foothills of this template we call earth. I am also a realist....except when it comes to friends, then I become a maniacal optimist. I believe in people, I believe that when people are open and honest with each other something very special happens, we do life together. No facades, no cleverly sculpted caricatures, just life done together in honesty and humility. This, in my opinion is the zest of life, it is what I love but it has a funny side effect, it hurts when there is separation. I am not one for cliches but I find myself often steering headlong into their ease and at times, truth. Love like you have never been hurt. I hate this saying but I find truth and life in it that I wish more of us would strive for. When we love like we have never been hurt we love deeply and fully and in that comes pain in separation. In the pain of separation there is a great well of joy for we find that if it didn't hurt...it wouldn't be worth it.

So as I drink from the cup of tears I rejoice and find myself smiling in the midst of it all. It means that I am extremely blessed to feel sadness in the midst of such joy, my cup runs over amidst the sadness. Thank you for your friendship, those near and far and I find peace in another truth. The dragon has been laid to rest, my Savior sits at the right hand of God and intercedes for us so I know we will see each other again one day where there are no more tears, no more pain, only the Father...and His children.