In A Heartbeat

This morning started off amazingly. Coffee with my Bible open, eager to hear what Jesus would say to me this day. Phone call with a dear friend and plans made for getting together tomorrow. A brisk walk down a blazing in colors country road that included FINALLY reaching my goal for distance! YAY! got back home, stretched, ate a hearty bowl of oatmeal, whisked around the kitchen and got laundry going. Showered and dressed. All before 10 am.

then... a phone call came.

It was not good news.

I don't really know this young couple but they attend our church. I have smiled at them from across the room perhaps, maybe murmured a good morning on occasion. Always thinking one of these Sundays I should get to know them. I don't even know their last name, or their ages, but thinking 'young' OK, old enough to have 2 little ones but still, young. I'd be surprised if they were over 30.

The news was that the husband died this morning. Circumstances are unknown as to the why and the how. I am stunned but I can't even imagine what his wife and children and other family are experiencing.

Yesterday perhaps they enjoyed a sun-filled day such as my sweetie and I did. Walking, laughing, talking. Perhaps he swung his kids up in the air and breathed in the sweetness of their giggles. Never knowing this was his last full day on this earth.

I pray, oh, how I pray he was ready to meet Jesus.

Another friend posted on facebook this morning a picture of their car that  met with a deer on his way to work today. The deer didn't make it, the car is a mess but HE walked away unhurt. Still, these kinds of things will shake you to your core.

Are you ready? If your time comes up today, are you ready to go? Do you know Jesus? that he died for your sins, that you need him to wash those sins away. That you need only accept this as truth, believe it in your heart, confess your need of a Savior. I may be clumsy in my approach but I just don't know another way to ask. Are you ready? Oh, I pray you are.

if you are not sure, please contact me or someone you know who will pray with you. don't let this moment pass you by. because we have no guarantee about the next heart beat.