April 29, 2006
Newsletter Archives

Today, as a family, we grieve at the death of a loved one at the age of 64. I am reminded of the old Scottish woman who wanted badly to go to Edinburgh, the capital city, but for years she could not be persuaded to take the railway journey. There was a long tunnel through which the train would have to go, and she was terrified at the thought.
One day circumstances arose which compelled her to go. For a while her fears were great and increased as the train drew near the dreaded tunnel. But before the tunnel was actually reached, the old woman, worn out with excitement, dropped peacefully off to sleep. When she woke up, she discovered that the tunnel had been passed!
Sometimes even God’s people are afraid when looking ahead to the dark shadow of death, but the apprehension is as needless as the old woman’s fear of the tunnel. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”John 11:25.
The resurrection hope takes the sting out of death; though we sleep, we shall awake in the full sunshine of His presence. “I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.” Psalm 17:15.
This is a sure hope for all the people of God, but what of those who do not know God? It will not be so with them. To go alone without God and without hope into the darkness of death is only the prelude to spending eternity in “the blackness of darkness forever.”
Now, that is not a needless fear! It is the most sensible fear a human being can have. If you find that fear in your heart, turn at once to the One who came into the world to die on the cross to “deliver them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Hebrews 2:15.

Russ Nesbit