Your Obituary

We’re all dying.  Now if you live in reality, not in a fairytale world, that sentence shouldn’t come as a newsflash to you!  It’s true, each day we are all one step closer to deaths door.  While it’s not something we go around talking about and planning on, it is a reality.

This past summer, my husband and I were faced with the “C” word.  Cancer.  It’s an awful, ugly word.  Jon had been battling kidney stones for a few weeks and finally they got the tests run and they found tumors on his kidneys that were indicators for cancer.  He came home from the doctor and his face told me something was terribly wrong.  Something you need to know about my husband is nothing shakes him.  He’s not a worrier, he doesn’t fret.  He’s cool as a case of cucumbers, FROZEN!  But when he walked in the house on this particular day, he was shaken and pale.  He began to tell me about what the doctors discovered on the tests and how they needed to do more tests to be sure.  I froze up, then I fell apart.  How could this be, I wondered?  My husband, thirty five years old and kidney cancer!  Within hours my emotions were so out of control that in my mind I was at his funeral!  I finally had to grab a hold of myself and say “STOP! This belongs to God, not me! Enough!”  I had to repeat Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I Am God.”

Weeks went by, the MRI was rescheduled six times before they finally got him in.  After about eight weeks, we finally got the results back and it WASN’T CANCER!  Praise God!  Those two months were trying.  We sought God.  He was our comfort.  We couldn’t ask why, because there was no answer.  We don’t know why, we may never know why.  But I will tell you what I do know.  I saw my husbands faith rise to meet the challenge during those very dark days.  I saw a man get up and choose to love and serve the Lord despite his circumstances.  I saw a man who was ready to fight cancer, win or lose.

One night while lying in bed we were discussing death and our obituaries and funeral arrangements.  Right after we received word that Jon might have cancer, a very dear friend of ours passed away from cancer.  Brent was just a few years older than Jon.  While our hearts ached for Carol and the boys and the families, our hearts rejoiced at the same time because Brent was at home and at rest with the Lord.  We were talking about obituaries and Jon had mentioned how so many of the obituaries talk of the persons achievements in life and their passions.  He said “thats all fine and great but I want my obituary to say one thing…”The lease ran out on Jon’s body, he’s gone home.”  Tears filled my eyes as I realized this man that my heart so dearly loves is right.  We are merely leasing these bodies.  They are just temporary homes for our souls.

Final Thought- What do you want your obituary to say?  Feel free to leave your thoughts below.