Over the past two weeks, I have had many emotions fill my body. I have had the question “why?” cross my mind many times. However, through all of the sadness and confusion, the passing of V and Susan have helped me to do some thinking and exploration. As I sat in a funeral today for a former member of the church, this question popped in to my mind, “Is this death or just an exit ramp?”
According to medterms.com, death is defined as “The end of life. The cessation of life.” I have been pondering this thought and have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as death. Flowers die, humans do not. Rather than dying, when we breathe our last breath, we are taking an exit off the highway of physical life. Throughout scripture, we are given many warnings of what to expect when our physical life comes to the end of the road. God provides a vivid picture of both His exit and the exit for Hell. In Matthew 13:42,43, Jesus describes, in terms of weeds, what will happen at our exit. He says, “They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. “ So, according to this scripture, we spend our eternity either in great pain or great pleasure. Regardless of where we are, we receive new life.
The scary thing about these exits, we cannot turn around once we leave. The way we “drive” determines what exit we get off at. Through our recent situation, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Susan and V both got off the exit of great pleasure. ..and I want to join them! I want you to join them! God has given us the map that tells us how to reach His exit; it is just a matter of me doing what I need to do. Our physical life is too short to say we will get on track tomorrow. When God closes my road, and I am facing my exit, I pray that the path I laid behind will be paved by God so many more can follow. There’s no such thing as death…just exit ramps.
