I recently did a Google search and asked the question, “How many people die every second.”  The answer is 1.78 people per second.  At first glance, that does not appear to be statistically significant.  However, when you start doing the math, it may initiate discomfort as reality appears.  Every minute 107 people die, every hour equals 6,390 souls, which means on a daily basis, 53,000 people go to meet their maker.  Whether we want to admit it or not, death is a part of living and we all will have to deal with both the mortality of our loved ones and our own.  I do wish that every single one of us died quietly in our sleep of old age but that is not realistic.  Some of us die from an illness, an accident, disaster, or by our own hand and in the aftermath of our death, we leave others to grieve for us.  Death can be and often is consuming when you are in the midst of it.  Another aspect of death is the space it creates for reflection.  Most of us do not do this until death either is on the horizon or has already passed over us.  Death has already come for my mother and it will soon come for my father as well as both of Margaret’s parents.  Eventually death will come for both of us and then our kids, grandkids, and on through the generations.  It is the cycle of life.  Instead of meeting death with regrets in focus, I want to greet it with joy.  I hold to the vision of living the rest of my life learning more about God’s love for me and others and how I can be a better expression of that.  I want to embrace the rest of my life and death knowing that joy filled the space between.  I hope you are striving for the same thing.  - Rev. Dr. Jim Hoffman

Did You Miss The Message?  Live Worship Replay circlerightarrow