unwilling to vacate.

Most of us aren't unwilling to vacate. So, why write a blog about it --- I'm getting there.

I was listening to the radio this week and came in on the tail end of a conversation about death. Of course, I turned up the volume. Apparently, the problem with death is that people are unwilling to vacate life. Umm....duh. I could have gone on the radio and said that. But....stay with me.

I starting thinking about things we are willing to vacate. I stopped counting after I got to "pretty much everything". We fly on a plane and gladly vacate our seat once we have landed safely in our final destination. We buy a home, and though it may at times be bitter-sweet, vacate when necessary. We vacate jobs. We vacate posts and positions we hold. We vacate marriages at a staggering rate. We aren't afraid to let go and move on from things we deem to be "temporary".

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)

Huh. Now you're starting to get my point. (when, by the way, did I become an evangelist I'm not sure --- but stay with me)

God tells us that what we see is temporary - all of it. The house we made a home - temporary. The job we worked so hard for - temporary. Some of us struggle to realize that these "things" are not important, but most would agree they are temporary. You've never seen a hearse with a luggage rack -- as the saying goes. We readily vacate things we know we may never see again. READILY!! We pack up and move -- sometimes never looking back. We walk out of a job on our last day and never set foot in the building again. Why then, is it so hard for us to let go of something else temporary (ie: Earthy life) when we know our eternal life is forever??

"Well Miranda, I don't want to die because I don't want to leave my family." Guess what - God says you'll see them again. Oh, you already knew that? Then what's the problem? Imagine it's like a long vacation or business trip and at the end - we'll all stand at the pearly gates and catch up. I haven't totally reassured you and made you get over your fear of death? Darn - I was hoping I was that good. 

Your fear of death isn't about leaving your family on this side -- its that you won't see them again on the other side. That my friends is a lack of faith. I think I've realized most fear of death boils down to a lack of faith. Its that one little whisper of doubt. What if this life really is IT? What if this God-thing is a hoax? What if Heaven is a beautiful illusion that helps me make this life bearable? What if, what if, what if.

I haven't really solved the problem here, but maybe I've identified part of it for you.

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20 (NIV)

Faith as small as a mustard seed people!! That's all we need. Sure, we'll doubt. We'll lose loved ones and struggle with not being able to talk to them or touch them everyday. Sure we'll sit in church and wonder if all these amazing promises are going to come true. I don't have all the answers. But I do know this: I can muster up faith the size of a mustard seed. I can hold onto that when death seems too permanent and life far too temporary. You can too. It's like George Michael says "Ya gotta have faith".