A year ago, on Sept. 19, 2008, the private Lear jet carrying DJ AM and Travis Barker, the drummer for Blink 182, crashed just before midnight in Columbia, S.C. The crash, which left Barker with severe burns, tragically claimed the lives of two pilots and two of Barker’s friends.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Barker said, “My crash happened, and all that [partying] ended. I don’t go out since my crash, I don’t have the crazy drug problem, I’m not making out with socialites. I’m focused on my kids and my music, and when I do have fun, I try to keep it private.”
A close brush with death has a way of helping you re-evaluate your priorities. Death is no respecter of persons. It doesn’t matter whether you are famous or obscure, rich or poor, successful or unsuccessful, Christian or non-Christian. This year two pop-culture icons entered into eternity: Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Fawcett was once regarded as the most beautiful woman in the world, with her famous poster adorning many a young man’s room. Jackson, the self-proclaimed King of Pop, died on the same day. One of the most successful artists in music history, he won 13 Grammys and sold millions of records worldwide. But he was only 50 years old when he died from cardiac arrest. Death knocks at the door of everyone. There are no exceptions.
Surprisingly, many young people today think they will die young. A startling number of teenagers, nearly 15 percent, think they will die early in life. New research suggests that this belief leads many adolescents to drug use, suicide attempts and other self-destructive behavior.
And for me, death has loomed large in my life over the past year. My oldest son, Christopher, died in an automobile accident just 14 months ago. We miss him every day, and I weep about it all the time. Yet I don’t weep for him, because I know he is in God’s presence because he put his faith in Jesus Christ. But I weep for me, for my wife, for his wife and children, and for his brother. But he is not only a part of my past, but also of my future, because I know I will see him again.
That is the hope of the Christian. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies” (John 11:25 NIV). When you are a Christian, you don’t have to be afraid of death. Death is not the end, but merely a change of residence. When a Christian dies, he or she goes into the presence of God, which is far, far better than any life here on Earth. When believers die, they go home. Heaven is the believer’s native land, and death is not the dying hour, but the birth hour. Heaven is a real place for real people, and heaven is where my mother, my adoptive father and my son are today. That is where your loved ones who died believing in Jesus are as well.
And if you are a Christian, you may see them sooner than you think, because Jesus is coming back. It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye:
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 NLT)
The writing is on the wall for us to read today. Jesus is coming. Life on Earth is not all there is. Eternity is real, and either you will be in God’s presence or absent from it. Either you will be in heaven or hell. Because one day, your number will be up. And so will mine. If you are a Christian, you will go straight to heaven. But if you are not, then you will face judgment: “And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15 NLT).
The question has been asked: “How could a God of love send someone to hell?” The answer is that God doesn’t; people send themselves there. We only receive in the afterlife what we have most wanted in this one: either to have God as our Savior and Master, or to be our own saviors and masters. Hell is simply one’s freely chosen path that goes on forever.
There is a last meal, a last breath and a last night for every person, and then eternity. The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Elvis Presley, is dead. The King of Soul, James Brown, is dead. The King of Grunge, Kurt Cobain, is dead. The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, is dead. But the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, is alive.
Eternity is real. Life is short. Jesus is coming. And one day, he will ask each of us, “What did you do with the life I gave you?” Do you know what your answer will be?
