The Week in Startling Contrast

This week I experienced the fringe edge of death, near death and pending death.

Though I did not know any of these people personally, I found a unique life bond with each one. All were sandwiched around my age bracket, all were unexpected, all left families behind, all were theoretically preventable. This and more lended a deeper gravity.

The one that caused me to reflect the most was a thirty-seven year old. After her organs were harvested, I awaited the Medical Examiner's arrival. When we unzipped the body bag to identify her and sign the release paperwork, I was unprepared for the flurry of thoughts that raced. Here are the two most profound:

In life, we identify each other by our face, colour of eyes, hair colour, facial features and their corresponding shapes, te reputation of the person's name. In death, we identify each other by a usually hidden toe, and an attached tag with an impersonal name.

The entire body was shrouded in a vinyl bag. I was struck by the contrast to those temporary vinyl bags we store our clothes in. Death is very much like this vinyl. For those who have never known GOD intimitely, their death is like  being zipped in a body bag, but as believers in our Saviour & Redeemer, our death is more like the temporary garment bag, merely holding our outer garments.

Profound thoughts. Weighty issues. Joyous discovery! Grateful praise!