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If you’re afraid to die, you’re not alone. And by not alone I don’t mean you’re not the only one who is afraid, I mean you’re not the only one who has to die. We are all sliding off this assembly line relatively soon. And nothing we’ve built is going with us. This can either be a terrifying thought or a comforting thought. If you’ve accumulated a lot of power and stuff, death may be a bit of a let down. I suppose you could be buried with your stuff but lets face it, that’s creepy. And it’s hard to enjoy your stuff when your skeleton hands can’t get a firm grip on anything. Death can be comforting, though, when you realize the stuff you are worried about simply won’t matter after you die. If you’ve lost your job, it’s comforting to know you were going to lose it anyway, when you die. How’s that for a bright side? In John chapter eleven, Jesus has a peculiar view of death. His friend Lazarus has died and Lazarus’ sisters send word to Jesus. Jesus hears the news and says “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory [...]

Every so often I get a healthy perspective about the temporal nature of life. I’m reading a book now by a man in his 80′s who states in his introduction the first 80 years pass like a flash. His exact words are “Eighty years sounds like a long time until they are behind you.” I have a love/hate relationship with death. I like life. I enjoy getting up every morning. I like my job and my friends and the city where I live. I have bad days but not many. And I like building things in this life. I like building books and launching others into their careers. And yet every once in a while I realize this whole thing is going to be taken away. It’s enough to make me quit, honestly. It’s enough to make me wonder whether I’d not be better to get married and run a small shop and spend more time walking my dog along the river (I already spend plenty, so maybe that’s overdoing it) because what’s the point of building something when you just have to let it go? I was with my friend Jim Chaffee recently for a rare speaking gig in [...]

On Yesterdays blog I talked about John chapter ten, in which Jesus tells us He is the Good Shepherd and the sheep will hear his voice. It’s an exciting and comforting chapter if you consider yourself drawn to Christ and want to follow Him. In the same chapter, though, He talks to a group of people who do not hear His voice, even though they are sitting right in front of Him talking to Him. It’s sobering. Here’s the exchange: “So the Jews gathered around him and said to him “how long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they fllow me. I give them eternal life and they wull never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s [...]

In John chapter ten Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd. To those listening, His language is vague. They want to know who is right and who is wrong, who gets into heaven and who doesn’t, and they want to be able to measure the metrics. Jesus doesn’t give them anything they can use to judge that sort of thing, at least not in this chapter (elsewhere, He says if you love me you will obey me). But here, Jesus simply says that He is the Good Shepherd, and the sheep will know His voice. Not only does Jesus say the sheep will know His voice, but He says He knows them, too. He even says He knows their names. The picture is intimate, guiding, loving and protective. Jesus talks about the enemy of the sheep, the previous guys who didn’t own the sheep but were put in charge of them, and how somebody who doesn’t own the sheep will flee whenever a wolf comes around. But Jesus implies He will not flee, because He loves the sheep. So how do we know if we are the sheep, if we are hearing Jesus’ voice? Well, at this point we can only [...]