Road Kill

     Driving to town today, I started thinking about all the dead animals we have driven past on the shoulders of roads and highways. People pass by usually never knowing what type of animal it was or if it belonged to someone; until eventually it disappears. Never to be thought about again by the thousands of people who drive past that spot. Like it never existed. Just think in our country of the thousands and thousands of animals this has happened to, run over, gone and forgotten. (and I'm not talking about just dogs and cats)
     In a way we are like that; here one minute and gone and forgotten the next. When we suffer a loss, it affects so many. After a while it gets put to the back of our daily thoughts and then years later, those that mourn will go on with their lives. Eventually they will pass away too. It might take a hundred years, but eventually there will be no one to remember individuals.
     Think of all the generations and great nations of the past. We read about their famous leaders, warriors and others, but there were millions of ordinary people too. They were once just as alive and passionate about life as we are today. Yet, they are forgotten. They had the same feelings, fear, love, happiness, sorrow that we do. They loved parents, spouses, children and grandchildren. They may be forgotten by man, yet, they aren't forgotten by God.  Every person is important to God.

The following verses say it so well.  If only we would read God's Word, everything is right there, everything we need to know.


“All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you. 1 Peter 1:24-25


"Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath. Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it. "But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you. Psalm 39 4-7

Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble. They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.

A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.

But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more. As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry, so he lies down and does not rise.....

If only you would set me a time and then remember me! If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.
You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made.
Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin. My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin.

If their children are honored, they do not know it; if their offspring are brought low, they do not see it. They feel but the pain of their own bodies and mourn only for themselves.”
                                                                                                     Job 14: 1, 4, 10, 13-17 and 21- 22


For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten.  Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.                                                                                             Ecclesiastes 9:5-6


So count your blessing that you are alive today!

Past People

   I've been thinking about the past lately.  I guess these types of thoughts are what people call deep.  There were two tragic deaths that I know of recently that really bothered me.  Maybe that is why I'm so thoughtful. I originally posted some of this on Facebook.  I love to people watch. It always amazes me how God made so many differences in people. Think about how a group of little kids will turn out when they grow up. We don't plan how we look as adults, it just happens. Life happens and it affects us in so many ways. Then adults can say "Wow, what happened to make me look like this?"  It could be too much food, too much sun, too much laziness, accidents, illnesses, too much meanness, family troubles, drugs, etc.  Just all the twists and turns of our lives. It makes me think.  Forgot to mention, too much alcohol, too much sin.   

     Do you ever wonder about all the people who lived through all the years man has been on earth? We never knew them, they weren't important to history, but each one had hopes, dreams, feelings, family, and love. Just like them, who will remember us? It's a big world and lots of time has passed; lots of people, lots of dreams.   Every day that those people were alive must have seemed important to them. They had things to do, daily work, goals to achieve. Things they worried about and worked for, but in the end how important were they really? Guess I'm in an Ecclesiastes mood.  They surely had plans for the next day unless they were so ill they didn't know anything anymore.  Maybe that is why God tells us not to plan ahead since we don't know what tomorrow will bring.  I think sometimes about dying, and that I'm not ready.  I've got things planned.  No one is ever ready.  What is ahead is much better than here.   

    To me this place is just so full of fear to me.  I have been so fearful of everything that could happen.  Fear of flying, driving, riding in cars, trains, boats, swimming, camping, bears, cougars, dogs, diseases, tornadoes, accidents like trees branches falling, etc.  Give me a situation and I can come up with some reason to fear it.  Just pure dread.  What a bummer.  I think to be gone and with Jesus would be so wonderful.  No more fear, no more worry, no more dread.  Once gone, things we wanted to do, to say won't even be a thought.  We'll have more important things to do.  I guess all the dread is fear of losing control in a situation like a tornado or pain of some illness or accident.  No one wants pain, but we all gotta go some way or another.

     In Ecclesiastes 9:10 (Jonathan's memory verse for Computer Lit)  it says, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom."

Also at the end of verse 11 it says  "....but time and chance happen to them all."

Verse 12:  "Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come........"

Traditions

Face it, Christmas will never be like it was when our kids were little.  Jody died (years ago), others divorced, and then Grandma & Grandpa died.  Some are in jail and Lisa is still not herself mentally after her heart attack and in a nursing home, Steve remarried too.  It really changed after Mom & Dad died.  I guess they were what held us all together.

My parents made it special for every grandchild.  They went all out.  They weren't rich but Mom would spend so much time trying to find great gifts for all us grown kids and the grandkids.  She tried to make sure she spent the same amount on each person.  We'd all bring gifts for everyone also, so the place was piled high with gifts.

She made a huge meal each year; without much help from us, I'm ashamed to say.  There wasn't room for all of us to sit at the table.  Those were the days.  Now the family that is left is fractured & disjointed.  Those that are still around have trouble getting together.  Lots of confusion.  At least with Mom and Dad, everyone knew, Christmas Eve was the time we met each year. 

We will all meet on the 18th to eat at a local restaurant and visit with each other.  Everything changes.  To everything, there is a season...