Articles
This World Is Not My Home
A close-to-home tragedy has reminded us all of a truth we all know but often repress: life on earth is fragile, and it may end for any of us at any moment. An Army helicopter crew was operating a routine training flight down the Potomac River. Surely even a seasoned military crew would feel the thrill of flying past the Lincoln Memorial with the Washington Monument and the Capitol in the distance to their left.
On final approach into Reagan National was American Airlines flight #5342 from Wichita, Kansas. Perhaps some of the passengers on the jet felt a similar sense of pride as they made their final turn to line up with the runway with the Mall out their right window. Just seconds from touching down – and making their way to baggage claim and curbside pickup, i.e., getting back to the routine of life – disaster struck. In a monumental twist of fate, the chopper and the airliner, supposedly separated by a couple of hundred feet in altitude, collided almost head on. Death for all would have been almost instantaneous.
Onboard the plane was a contingent of junior figure skaters and their parents and coaches returning from a skating camp in Wichita. Some were famous in the figure skating world: a married Russian coaching couple were World Champions in 1994. Most were just ordinary people doing ordinary life-things: two promising young sisters from NOVA were killed along with their parents; several other combinations of parents and children were likewise killed. But closest to home for us is that our Inna Ovsiannikova could easily have been on the flight that crashed. She, too, was in Wichita for the U.S. Nationals, but rather than stay for the skating camp which followed she returned home three days before the accident. Inna lost a long-time friend and fellow coach at Ashburn Ice House, Inna Volyanskaya. This has obviously been a devastating experience for our Inna, who has overcome many obstacles in her journey from Minsk, Belarus to northern Virginia.
Harlow Stanley, a young female skater who lost friends in the crash, lamented at a memorial service: “Never did I think that people I loved, my chosen family and people I saw almost every day would leave so unexpectedly ... Seeing the future [generation] of ice dancers wake up at 5 a.m. to train and miss out on fun events and vacations to chase their dreams, then suddenly it’s over, is a pain that’s difficult to express.”
There you have it: “and suddenly it’s over.” Though we are intellectually aware of it, life presents us with occasional, graphic reminders that our earthly sojourn is uncertain. We may face “lesser” incursions on our mortality – an unexpected disease diagnosis; an injury that causes serious debilitation; etc. – or we may fall victim to an accident or act of violence that ends our life in a moment.
But the pertinent question for those of us still in the land of the living but subject to the vicissitudes of life: How are we to find peace in the midst of such uncertainty? Shall we become Stoics and withdraw from both the joys and pains of life in order to maintain emotional equilibrium? Shall we become hedonists and live for the moment, indulgently pursuing our cravings without restraint – grabbing for all the gusto we can get because, as they say, “You only go around once”? No, these and other humanistic mantras are folly; they not only do not work but actually make matters worse by promoting untruth and compromising our relationship with God.
The only real solution to the anxiety of life’s uncertainty is a deeper understanding of our existence; i.e., that we are spiritual beings destined for a spiritual dimension, and the only way to negotiate that transition is by establishing and maintaining a relationship with God. The main outcome of salvation in Christ is life, which the Lord addresses so often:
Ø “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that who-ever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” – Jn 3:16.
Ø “Most assuredly … he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” – Jn 5:24.
Ø “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day” – Jn 6:40.
Many other citations from the new testament elaborate on this life, but suffice it to say that in spite of the fact that death was introduced into this world not by God but by man, yet God in His mercy has provided a solution to the problem of death. That solution is not to eradicate the physical expiration of the body – “It is appointed for men to die once” (Heb 9:27) – but rather to remove the consequences of dying apart from fellowship with God. But as noted in the above verses and elsewhere in Scripture, this solution is singular: it only comes through Jesus Christ. That is, it doesn’t come from works of humanitarian goodness, ecological sensitivity, financial outlay, intellectual prowess, academic achievement, etc. We cannot save ourselves via our own schemes or inherent goodness; we must bow at the feet of our Lord and Savior and accept both the blessings and responsibilities He offers us. If we will do so, we are freed from the debilitating worry about our earthly existence by focusing on eternity in heaven:
Ø “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth …” – Col 3:1-2.
Ø “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” – 2 Cor 5:1.
Ø “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus … Therefore comfort one another with these words” – 1 Thes 4:13-14, 18.
A sporadic, uncommitted faith will not suffice to deal with the inevitability of death. It takes a true and active faith which prioritizes God and Christ in all things to equip us with peace in the face of death – either our own or the death of our beloved friends and family. May that peace be yours.
