The Dash

I received some bad news this week, A young man I went to school with passed away on Sunday. I'll be honest, I haven't seen him for years, probably about 6, but in school we were good friends and the news that he was now gone was rattling. I'll be attending his funeral this Friday, hopefully along with many of the others students from that class, I am confident it won't be a happy reunion, but hopefully we can celebrate who he was together. He was a happy, carefree, fun loving kind of guy.

News of death usually makes you think, it makes reality sink a bit further in that we are not untouchable, we are not immortal, especially when it is someone that is the same age as yourself. This time it reminded me of something I heard one time, when you look at a tombstone there's usually two dates: date of birth and date of death. In between those two dates is usually a little dash, a small mark with so much significance. The dash represents all the things about our life, it's where we make choices, memories, decisions. Who will we be? what will we aspire to? how will we impact the world? what or who will we believe in?

It's the dash that matters, a little tiny mark that represents all of the life someone lived. It makes you think, what will I do in my dash, who will I be? I think it's easy to let life pass you by sometimes, to be a bystander of your own existence. I don't want that, I want my dash to matter, I want the kids I work with the know that I think it matters, I don't care if i get famous or if people have many incredible things to say about me once my dash is up and that final date known, but as I think about it I do care about that dash. I care that in my dash I live for Jesus not myself (this isn't always easy - in fact it almost never is), I care that in my dash I try to put others first, I care that in my dash I stay focused on what matters, I believe Jesus came, and died, so that my dash could be life and life to the full. I also believe that Jesus came, and died, so that after my dash I could look forward to an eternity with Him, an eternity in Glory, an eternity that I can have based on the decision I made to follow him in my dash.

It's gloriously freeing to know that when my dash ends, I will meet face to face with my wonderful Saviour, I will know firsthand the reality of his grace and compassion for me that covers over all the mistakes made in my dash. The best news is that that same offer is for everyone, Jesus offers it freely, all we have to do is believe in him and accept his free gift of salvation, after that the final date after the dash is far less frightening.