My Next Breath

Today my words do not flow quite so easily, for their inspiration strikes closer to home. Last night, after years of battling with diabetes, kidney failure, lymphoma, and heart and stroke problems our friend Bob passed away. Actually, he is the father of a dear friend, but I have taken to visiting him these past few years when he has been more or less house-bound and he has become family to us. Bob was the original tough guy. He was a college athlete (at USC, no less), served in the Navy, worked as a policeman, and also as an investigator for the Department of Justice. Nothing breaks your heart more than seeing a tough guy crippled by disease and recent years had taken a heavy toll on him. In the end, it proved to be a battle he simply could not win. Yet this story, which probably seems all together too familiar, has a happy ending. You see, Bob knew another tough guy named Jesus Christ, who also suffered and died. However, Jesus was the Son of God and with His death he paid the price for all of our sin and reconciled us back to God. Jesus rose from the dead and promised that anyone who believes in Him and accepts His sacrifice for their sins shall also be rescued from death as well, and spend all of eternity with Him in Heaven. That is the good news of the Gospel of Jesus, a well-founded hope for a better life in a better place. Long ago, Bob made a decision to trust his life to Jesus, which assures him a place in the hereafter. In the here and now, however, the past week has been an excruciatingly difficult one for Bob and his family, but last night something wonderful happened. It doesn’t yet feel wonderful to those of us who are left, who mourn his loss, for we’ll need some time to mend and come to terms with how our own lives have been affected. Yet, we know in our hearts that Bob is far better off today than he was yesterday. For once he took his last breath here on this earth his very next breath was in heaven, and we can scarcely imagine what that must be like. Now Bob knows. Farewell, old friend.

My Next Breath
At the end of the darkest tunnel
No matter how black it may be
No matter the pressures or pain I feel
There is someone who comforts me
He pierces the gloom of my sorrow
Understanding the fears I must face
My God is the hope of tomorrow
Where He waits in that glorious place
In the moments when I truly suffer
When I'm frightened and gasping for breath
Even then, I am strong and triumphant
For I have cheated the prince of death
No disease or disaster can rob me
Of God's promise of victory
For I have been chosen to meet Him
At His throne to spend eternity
So what matter if I draw my last breath
And this life is taken from me
My next breath will be in heaven
And oh, what a breath that will be
By Frank Carpenter ©