Yesterday, a friend of mine that was a student here at school passed away. Although I won't go into details of his death, I will say that he was just barely 21 years old. That caused me to embark on a journey through the Scriptures we see in Ecclesiastes and also in the Psalms about how there is a time for everyone to live...and then to die. In the Psalms, we are taught about how we are simply like the plants and animals of the earth and that our time is short on the earth is relatively short. Humans have always sought scientific ways to live longer through many physical means such as focusing on diets that help us to live longer. But is that really the good life that we should be seeking? I can understand that people all have a fear of death; but why is it that we are afraid? We all know that if we are authentic with our faith, then our salvation is secured. But what is it we fear? Is it the process of dying itself? Through many technological systems, mankind has found numerous ways to avoid our immanent doom. Originally, in the Garden of Eden, man was intended to live forever in the presence in God...but we all know that changed as a result of what they partook of. Although the idea of living forever may seem attractive when we are younger, is it worth the physical pain and returning back to our infant-like state of being? Now, I'm not going to go in to the topic of human euthanasia as that is not the point of this post. My friend that passed away was always around campus with the brightest smile on his face and was friends with everybody. Through his life I was remembering, I was able to learn that our life is to be treasured while we are hear on earth and we are not to let this journey pass in vanity. The man was excited to spread the kingdom of God. For man to not do their part in spreading God's kingdom is deemed as foolishness. He taught me that God put us here on earth for a purpose: to spread the Kingdom of God ultimately. If we don't live up to that purpose, then we are nothing but thieves of oxygen taking it from people who are doing their job. With this, I conclude that we should be reminded that life is indeed shorter than what we think it is. As young people, we never expect to meet our untimely deaths until we are older but in reality, death will happen to everyone. The only thing we aren't sure of is a matter of when. Never procrastinate an important decision until the next day. Then again, never make a choice on impulse either. Live like a light of Christ should live. Shine your lights bright. You may be the only Jesus that people ever see in their lives. Don't take your time on earth lightly because you never know when you will lose the opportunity to affect somebody's life.