Daily Reminder of Death

I work at a car dealership that is located just off of a busy highway in San Antonio known as Loop 410. Less than ten miles away from our dealership is Fort Sam Army base. So we usually see a lot of traffic coming off the highway and along the access road. Most of the traffic consists of your typical crazy road rage driver. But at least once every two days we also see a funeral procession go by. It’s easy to tell when it’s a funeral. You usually see the motorcycle police flying down the ramp with their lights on and they park in the middle lane of the access road so that all traffic has to stop. The next thing that you see is the hearse, followed by one or two limousines containing the family. After that, you see the line of cars that make up the funeral procession. But you have to look carefully to tell which cars are in the procession and which cars are simply traffic coming off of the highway. The easiest way to tell is that the funeral procession cars are typically the ones with their hazard lights on. This is so each car can tell which cars are going to the grave site and which cars are not. It’s not like Ruston, Louisiana where I’m from. Back home, it’s easy to tell which cars are in the funeral because the other cars pull over to the side of the road when a funeral procession goes by.

Whenever I see the procession go by, I always look to see if I can see the people in the cars. Most of the time the traffic is moving slow enough that I can see the expressions on their faces. The drivers are typically leaning forward and focused on the task at hand. The passengers are either helping the driver navigate, or are staring blankly out of the window. And those are the people that I find the most intriguing. I wonder what’s going on in their minds. I have attended many funerals in my life and I know the things that go through my mind during those drives to the grave site. I typically think about the person occupying the hearse, I think about their life, and the things that have been said about them throughout the day. I also think about the day that people will come to my funeral and the things that they will say about me. I know that sounds a little morbid but it’s the truth.

On one occasion, my friend K. and I were outside watching the latest procession go by and he made an interesting observation. I was telling him about people that I knew who were relatively young, but facing some pretty tough odds concerning sickness. I also told him about a twenty-nine year old minister that had recently died of prostate cancer. He was living the life that God desired of him (as far as we all knew) and then just like that…he was gone. I was thinking about that and saying that life was just not fair sometimes. And K. looked at me and said something that I had not thought about before. He said that we get so caught up in thinking that life is the top of the mountain when it is not. The top of the mountain is actually being able to see God’s face. We spend so much time investing in our lives here on earth that we sometimes forget that this is just a temporary mode of travel, not the final destination. Heaven is the final destination. This life on earth is simply the road that we must travel to get there. The important thing to focus on while we are living is to make sure that we do the things that we need to do in order to get to Heaven. And that is making sure that Jesus is the head of our lives.

To be sure, I don’t want to see God face to face just yet. But I don’t want to get so caught up in holding onto life that I forget that my life is only important in regards to what I am doing for the Kingdom. My job is to make sure that Mike is going to Heaven; then to make sure that my wife and son are being led in the same direction that I am. Finally, I am supposed to make sure that as many people as possible are led to receive Jesus in their lives as well. And that helps to put my focus back in balance. So remember what is most important in life. To be saved, and to make sure others know Jesus for themselves. I hope that this little story will help you to appreciate life fully for what it is. Life is our opportunity to get closer and closer to God until we can see Him face to face.

Peace and Love,

Rev. Mike






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