ON BEING SICK

Good Time Bad Time Death Posted January 19, 2022


Living the dream...


It was the middle of December when I started running a high temperature.

I assumed I had the twenty-four hour bug. Everyone and their mother assumed I had COVID-19. As it turned out, it was neither. What ended up happening, however, was basically the worst two weeks of my life. I had no energy. I struggled to do even the most basic tasks. But worst of all, I couldn't keep anything down. I woke up every day feeling like "today's the day I finally feel better", only for reality to quickly set in. At one point, I wondered if I was legitimately dying.

Thankfully, I started to come back around toward the end of the year. I can't begin to tell you how excited I was to finally stomach some soup. I was able to take care of chores, hang out with people, and do many other things I had previously taken for granted. Since then, a fire of sorts has been reignited within my heart. When I started singing again, I poured everything I had onto the stage. I broke down in tears as the packed bar openly cheered. I felt like a rock star that night.

I've been working on many creative things, keeping myself busy until I can't think straight and start to smell weird. I've been volunteering to the point where I basically have no free time left. In all that I do, I've been giving it all. I'm determined – now more than ever – to make every moment count while I still have moments to spare. Because things could have easily gone the other way for me.

As I'm writing this, I received word that my co-worker Louise had passed away from cancer. It was merely months ago when me and her were in the office talking about life and what we hoped to accomplish in the near distant future. None of us had suspected a thing. She was a healthy, hard-working mother, and all of us were shocked to see how quickly her condition had deteriorated. Not long before that, a previous co-worker I knew – Nick – had passed away due to complications from a normally minor skin infection.

If you're new to my site, you probably think I'm a party animal who is striving to live life to its fullest and is encouraging everyone else to do the same. And you're not wrong. But I am also asking you to take death just as seriously. The reality is that we all have eternal cancer by default – and unless if we address it, all the moments we try to make the most of will be for naught. It really isn't complicated:

• All people are sinful.

• God is perfect and holy.

• Sin requires punishment.

• God became a man (Jesus) and lived a sinless life.

• No punishment was due, but He still died as a sin sacrifice.

• In his death, Jesus absorbed the wrath of God on our behalf.

• Jesus rose from the dead, conquering sin and death.

• By trusting and following Jesus, our punishment has been paid and we are credited with his sinlessness.

That's it. It's the simplest, yet the most important decision you can ever make with your life. But whatever you do, don't hold off on it. Many of us don't have as much time as we assume we do.

It's time we all started living like it's true.

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