Death is a funny thing

Why does it always take death to make me realize how precious life is? I mean, I know that we have something more glorious to go to beyond this earthly life, but God gave us this life for a reason. It always makes me wonder if I am really serving God to my fullest. When I die, I want to be following God's will. I want to die in the line of duty and love.

Steve Erwin, also known as the Crocodile Hunter, died yesterday. He was stabbed in the heart by a stingray while filming for a series called, "Ocean's Deadliest." How ironic. But I think he would have rather been killed while doing what he loved than growing old until he couldn't do anything. They've been showing a lot of his old shows on Animal Planet. It's hard to watch him on the screen and know that there's no person behind that. It's only an image on a screen. That person, that soul, is gone from this world. I sit there and hope that he's gone to heaven. He was such an amazing man. He was full of life and not afraid of anything, it seemed. He was willing to throw himself into situations that most people would take one look at and run. It's hard to say exactly what I'll miss. I mean, I didn't watch his show that much. When I did though, his honest and sincere heart and personality always came through. People always said that he was the same on screen as off. I always wanted to meet him. Maybe someday, on the other side of death, I will.

Death also makes me see that everything is not right in the world. I tend to forget that. God has blessed me so much and I tune out anything unpleasant so that I don't see how much is wrong with the world. I forget about all the injustice and all the fallenness in the world. All I know is my small world where, most of the time, it seems, everything is fine. I mean, we all have our little problems and disappointments, but when something like this happens, it makes me pull up and take a look around me at the bigger world. It's like I go along, looking at the ground in the little circle around us. Then when a tragedy affects my world, it makes me look up for a second. It reminds me that I'm not the only one in the world. Makes me forget myself for a little while. Maybe, I can make use of this wake up call and make myself stay a little more aware of the brokenness in the world. Then, maybe I can make a difference. I don't know how yet, but if I follow God, nothing is impossible!