The Valley of the Shadow of Death…

There is, perhaps, no PSALM quoted more than the 23rd. I have rarely been to a funeral that to which it wasn’t referred. I have heard countless messages and lessons from it. Yet I always draw inspiration from it. 

I was maybe fourteen years old when it dawned on me that I would someday die. Suddenly, for no reason, in the middle of a M*A*S*H episode, my mortality became very vivid. I immediately spoke of it to my mother with great consternation. I was nearly as immediately cut off by my older brother, David, who looked at me with a frown. “Will you shut up,” he said. It wasn’t a question. 

I understood. No one wants to think about their death, especially during s rerun of M*A*S*H. 

I’ve considered it many times since… death. There is no avoiding it. I have grown so close to my Lord, Jesus Christ, that He had removed all fear and replaced it with a peculiar fondness of things above. I actually look forward to the day when I shall meet Him face-to-face with excitement and great anticipation. Will I be scared? Not any more. “For me to live is Christ. To die is gain.” I am content either way. I am ready, praise be to God, come what may.