Goodbye as the hardest words

Saying Goodbye
Running a race and watching others fall one by one can be scary. Because this race is not about reaching the finish line but by running still... and running more...days, weeks and years. This is about buying time, and if possible, missing the finish line.
Life can be so wonderful, we don't want it to end. Loved ones and friends are treasures that we can't simply leave behind. But sad to say we are all made of dust, and to dust we shall return.

Science had made new discoveries. From cloning to finding a new planet which is earth like in size. They have challenged death itself, by prolonging people's lives through machines. But it remains as a challenge to conquer death itself, except to those who believe in the atoning death of Christ.

I have not really faced the reality of physical death until I had breast cancer. I thought life on earth is forever and it will never end. But visiting hospitals and sitting among others who have cancers too, it was like sitting on a death row.

I learned few days ago that my friend died after battling with cancer for a few months. Many have been praying and interceding for her as we have stayed connected with her husband while she was confined in one of the hospitals in Manila. But despite of pleadings and tears, she had to go. She was a christian believer and she loved serving the Lord. Rene is back to her real home now, although we will be missing her a lot.

Physical death is a sad part of human existence. Yet it is part of life. Many people avoid this topic, although this is one of the two things that are certain in life. Death and taxes.

As I face my own mortality, saying goodbye to those whom I love is the hardest word to say. It is like leaving a home you have grown to love. So many familiar faces and so much memories to leave behind.

But we can't live here forever, can we? We are all squatters in this world. Just like the grass in the fields, we are here today and gone tomorrow. No matter how much we drink anti-aging drugs and applying anti- aging lotions on our skin, we all face but one destiny.

But death for believers in Christ is not saying goodbye. It is about seeing you later, because we believe in life after death. It is the beginning of another journey where there is no more pain, and no more needles.

For us who believe in the atoning death of Christ on the cross, life is like a small dot and after that is an endless line called eternity, where there is no illness, nor death to separate us from our first love, who is God.