Called Into Service

Every life will end in death. There are times when we may feel we will live forever. But, sooner or later, every person faces the inevitability of death.

At the height of his career, Winston Churchill was walking in a garden with a friend. In the midst of pleasant conversation, Churchill’s glance fell on a dead sparrow beside the path. He stared at it thoughtfully for several moments, then walked away in silence. His friend said nothing, but noticed that tears had come into Churchill’s eyes.

The shadow of the inevitable end of all living things had been thrown across the great man’s path. It is a shadow no one escapes. Even in the midst of life, we are dying, and the end is coming soon enough.

“Tell me, Yahweh, when my end will be,” the Old Testament Psalmist cried out, “how many days are allowed me, show me how frail I am,” he pleaded (Ps. 39:4).

Death is a solitary experience. No one…