I saw my daughters maiden name on a list for removal from our church membership list, since she was married and lived in another community and goes to church in that town. So I continued to look at the list to see if I knew anyone else on the list. I saw the last name of someone who I used to hang out with as a young man. I had not thought of that girl in a long time. So like we do today, I googled her name. To my shock her obituary showed up and she had died of a brain tumor five years earlier.

I felt like someone had punched me in the gut. I had really liked that girl, but eventually felt like we were not a good fit and so I quit seeing her. A month later she called me on the phone and when I told her that I didn’t think we were a good fit together she started crying. I felt guilty, deep in my soul for letting her go. That was the last time I spoke to her.

As I read her obituary and especially her caring bridge pages, where she told about her situation, that took place for over a year, it was a struggle to finish reading, because there were so many emotions. I wish I would have known about this, while she was alive to pray for her, to write her a card or letter or to make a phone call.

In this woman’s obituary, I learned that her father had passed on and she was the fifth sibling to pass away. She was survived by her 90 year old mother along with two other siblings. If we had a choice in life none of us would survive our children. As parents, we would like to be buried by our children. My thoughts and prayers went to her mom and siblings for what they have had to endure in their immediate family.

Death never comes at a good time. It comes and takes away those we love and cherish. We wish for more time to be spent with them, but that is not how it works. At some point, in our lives, hopefully we realize this fact and from that point forward we see life differently. As Christians we don’t think of bucket list, we think of relationships with our family and friends. We pray that God would continue to pursue our family and friends and that some day, they will open the door to Jesus before they pass on to the other side.

James 4:14 Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

We are not a permanent fixture on this earth and no matter how long we stay on this earth it won’t feel long enough to us or our loved ones. So live as though you know you will be passing from this earth tomorrow.