|
I once came across a handy chart that presents the odds of dying from a number of various causes. Some of it was surprising. For instance, a person is more likely to die from a bee sting than from a flood, earthquake, or lighting. The least likely cause of death listed was “fireworks discharge” at 1 in 340,733 — though I have some friends who seem to want to make death by fireworks a more common occurrence.
At the top of the chart was this category — Odds of Dying, Any Cause: 1 in 1 (100%). The article accompanying the chart begins, “You are going to die. It’s going to happen. But how you die is the great mystery of your life.”
In one sense we think too little about death and too much of death. Too little in that we hardly live as if life is but a fleeting breath — and too much in that we spend our lives running away from the finish line. The world says, “Don’t think about death, but be afraid of death.” God says, “Think about death, but don’t be afraid of death.”
The title of this new series is, “Not Too Young To Die” — based on a message I delivered at a missions conference last month. I share it with you, not as an expert on the topic of death, but simply as one who is not too young to die.