Sudden impact

> A friend of mine had a massive heart attack and died yesterday. He
> was fairly young, had a wonderful, cheerful demeanor, nice family, he
> was in good physical shape, slender size and from all appearances in
> perfect health. I was shocked at the news. He was the last person
> that I would think was going to have a heart attack. One of our staff
> members had the same experience over the weekend with the news of the
> servicemen who lost their lives over Vietnam while on a mission to
> find missing soldiers. He personally knew them, and had worked with
> them in the past and suddenly they are gone from this earth. The
> sudden impact of hearing the devastating news of someone close to us
> who loses their life while still in their prime is difficult to
> understand. I know plenty of people who smoke three packs of
> cigarettes a day and I wouldn’t think twice if I heard they keeled
> over with a heart attack, but when someone who we least expect goes,
> it makes me realize that we should live each day to its fullest. We
> are one heartbeat away from eternity at any moment. I had a terrible
> day the day I found out about my friend; it seemed as if nothing went
> right all day. As I think about what went wrong, compared to him
> losing his life, in reality my problems were pretty insignificant. I
> should not have given my problems a second thought and should have
> been glad to still be around to try and solve them.
>
> I have felt the heartache of losing loved ones many times and I know
> what the families who are left behind are going through. I don’t know
> if these individuals were/are Christians or not. How much more
> terrible it is when a non-Christian dies and a non-Christian family
> mourns their loss. At least Christians have assurance that our God
> will always be with us, into the everlasting, to help deflect our
> sorrow.
>
> _____________________
>
> Psalms 23:4
> Yea though I walk through the
> valley of the shadow of
> death,
> I will fear no evil;
> For you are with me…
>
> And I will dwell in the
> house of the Lord
> Forever.

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