By Kirk, CBF field personnel
During high school, some of us wondered which person in our graduating class would be the first to depart this life—how, and why.
When I became an English teacher in Southeast Asia in my early 20s, I wondered if my students had similar thoughts. I was particularly close to my first group of Asian college students. We were of similar age and bonded immediately. These relationships would continue for dozens of years.
One of the more easy-going students was Charles. He loved cars and “rally” racing—scavenger hunts played over hundreds of kilometers of roads. After college, he started a tour van company—so he could always be driving. The only child of elderly parents, he had no close relatives and never married—his classmates became his family.
A few days before Christmas, Charles suffered a fatal heart attack. He was hundreds of miles from home with a tour group. His classmates arranged to transport his body back to the city where we had all met over 30 years ago for a traditional four-day funeral.
It was with a heavy heart that I made the 10-hour drive to attend the last day of Charles’ funeral and cremation. His racing uniform hung empty on a stand in front of his casket, along with an assortment of racing trophies and pictures.
The ceremony was typical of this region. The religious leaders chanted in an unknown ancient language while holding fans in front of their faces in which these messages were written: “Go and never return,” “Sleep and never wake,” “There is no escape,” “There is no resurrection.”
I have no idea what Charles experienced in his final moments. During college, he had attended a few BSU activities and was always respectful to the elderly missionaries serving in that town. He had been on my prayer list for years, and a photo of his entire graduating class still adorns my office.
Scripture is clear. There is more to life than this life. We may never return to this world, but we will wake. Because of Jesus, there is an escape. There is resurrection.
Therefore comfort one another with these words.