The funeral director

This morning I led a funeral for a very troubled man who died from a ruptured spleen in Hawaii. I had known him and his family for 30 and been in a variety of painful and difficult situations with him.

Riding to the graveside, the funeral director and I were talking. He said that the typical cost of nursing home care in our area ranged from $7000 to $10000 per month. When people have less than $2000 in assets, the government picks up most of the costs.

I said without hesitation that I had thought about the end of my life and costs for many years. Dr.Kevorkian is absolutely right, say I. People who are ready to die or choose to die now rather than drift into dementia or whatever should of course have the right to die. They should have both the means and the courage to move on to the next reality.

Jesus says I have come that you might have life and life abundant. When life abundant is no longer a possibility and given the faith in eternity that Christians supposedly carry in their hearts,of course, they are ready to let go.

Surely, people who believe that Jesus loves all the little children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, would not want to waste $10000 per month on health care from themselves when their quality of life is gone. Surely, Christians hearing the call of Jesus would say that they know that that money could mean life for maybe hundreds of children in Namibia or Bangladesh or maybe dozens in America. What we do with our money says more about what we really believe than a thousand prayers!

Love one another not in word alone, but in deed and in truth. Even when it is costly and scares the daylights out of you.



Tomorrow, we go back to Russia and religion and politics and icons.