1 CORINTHIANS 15:55
One day I received one of the hardest phone calls I had ever gotten. A very close friend of mine was killed in a terrible car wreck. I didn’t believe it at first. I just stood there saying, “There’s no way, there’s no way.” Jonathan was only eighteen years old and was finishing up his freshman year of college. After it sank in that he truly was dead, I started crying and calling all of my friends to get the details. What I gathered was that he had been thrown from the car, which had been going about 90 mph around a curve. It hit a telephone pole and Jonathan hit the pavement. At the funeral, the church was packed with friends and family who were just as shocked as I was. He was only eighteen! He loved life and had big plans for his future! Why did God take him so young and so suddenly? I don’t have an answer for that, but it made me realize that if death could come to Jonathan, it could come to anyone, even me. I was reminded that as a Christian, death has lost its sting because Jesus died so that I may be saved from eternal death. Jonathan’s death reminded me that life is short and that my purpose in life is to know Jesus and to make him known to the world.
Hannah Howerton, 17, home school, Greenville, SC
God, I don’t want to fear death, and because of You,
I don’t have to. You are an awesome God. Amen.