When Charles Lindbergh, the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic, was dying of cancer, he wrote these words to be read at his burial service: ‘We commit the body of Charles A. Lindbergh to its final resting place; but his spirit we commit to Almighty God, knowing that death is but a new adventure in existence and remembering how Jesus said upon the cross, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”’ Death is just ‘a new adventure in existence’, so there is no need to dread it or ignore it. Because of Christ, you can face it with joy and confidence. Furthermore, His resurrection guarantees yours. Aristotle was wrong: death isn’t to be feared. The Greeks were mistaken: the boatman Charon won’t ferry you across the River Styx into oblivion in a sunless world of spirits. As a believer, you don’t get buried, you get planted! ‘So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power’ (1 Corinthians 15:42-43 NKJV). One day when Saint Francis of Assisi was hoeing his garden, a man asked him what he would do if he suddenly learned he was to die at sunset that day. He said, ‘I would finish hoeing my garden.’ Here was a man who was ready to die, and without the fear of death, he was ready to maximise every moment of life. That’s how you need to live too!
