When Time is Up

This week I got a startling reminder of how quickly our lives can end.  Early this week, a friend of mine who was only 20 years old lost his life in a car accident.  It’s always such a tragedy to see someone lose their life at such a young age.  It hits even closer to home when it’s a young man who God obviously had his hand on and was working through.  It triggers questions in our minds about how God could allow something like this to happen and why it happened.  It’s only natural to question, and honestly, we typically don’t get the answer we were looking for.

So what are we to do in situations like this?  I really don’t know completely but here are some things off the top of my head that I’m choosing to do and take from this and similar experiences:

• Celebrate the life that Brandon lived.  He may have only got 20 years on earth, but God did more through him in that short time than a lot of Christians experience in their long life.
• Celebrate the life that he is now living.  In the words of another friend, “I can’t even imagine the things you are seeing right now. and i must say… i am jealous.”   Brandon is seeing first hand what a lot of us live for. (Wow…I totally quoted Joey West)  I thank God that he had already experienced God’s love here on earth so he can continue to experience it forever.
  
• Mourn.  It’s OK to mourn.  It’s part of our healing process.
• Hug those that I love more.  Tell them that I love them more.  Play more.  Laugh more.  Cry more.  Basically, just enjoy the time that I do have with my family and friends because it can’t be taken away in an instant.
  
• Most importantly, I am reminded to share Christ with everyone around me.  I have to look for more opportunities to show and tell others about what makes me tick….and what makes them tick, too, but they just haven’t discovered or accepted it yet.

What have you learned from experiences like this?