“Ready or Not” By Rayola Kelley

When I was young, I used to play hide and seek. The person who had to find the kids in our particular group stood with their back to the rest of us and had to count to ten as they closed their eyes and when they hit that number, they would yell, “Ready or not, here I come!” I have to admit that ten seconds created a rush as we scramble to find some place to hide before being caught out in the open.

Recently, one of our friend’s family was hit by tragedy. Oswald Chambers stated that the one thing we often avoid facing, is that at the core of life is tragedy. Tragedy comes through great loss. The first loss we experience is usually innocence of childhood when we realize that the world is not what it is supposed to be. It is not a kind world where all can be trusted, but a frightening world where bad guys not only exist but rule with fear, shame, and tyranny. The second loss we experience is wonderment towards life that comes through curiosity because life can prove to be shockingly hard, and the third sometimes is security because our small world often falls apart in some way.

The losses continue as we encounter the many different twists, turns, and disappointments. With twists we can become somewhat frightened at life because we do not know what it will bring. At times we can become fearful because we realize we are not in control of life that runs as a current through our lives, as well as through an uncertain world that may appear to be under control, but at most it is controlled chaos and at the worst it is plain lawless and bent on running down some track that ends at a chasm where everything falls into, to be seen no more. At each disappointment we can become more skeptical towards life.

The recent loss I am writing about entailed the death of a 16-year-old. We are often shocked at what appears to be a great unfairness in such situations. It is only fair that older people should naturally go first so the younger can experience life. If we believe there is a God, we might even question Him as to why He would allow such an unfairness to beset such a young man, especially if that young man displayed great promise.

The truth of the matter is, our mortality serves as harsh reality that we spend most of our time ignoring, avoiding, dancing around, and running from the idea of death, and yet it is part of the cycle of life. This harsh reality is at the end of the current of life here on earth, whether it represents a bend in the flow of the current that becomes shrouded by unknown heights, or in a deep canyon in which the flow disappears into the depths of the unknown. When I think of a river becoming lost, I ponder the time we lived in a place called the Lost River Basin. It received this name because the river that ran through the basin would suddenly disappear from sight, leaving a mystery with unanswered questions.

The truth is death is the only reality check some people have about life and eternity. I remember how, after the mention of Cain slewing Abel for the second time, there followed Lamech’s boastful claims that he had slain a man and a young man, that we are told in the last part of Genesis 4:26, “then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.” This scripture made me think that due to violence and death becoming more prevalent at that time that men began to call upon the name of the Lord because they realized what death entailed and that only God holds the real umbilical cord to life.

In this age of unbiblical Universalism, where in the minds of many everyone will be saved in the end, regardless of what they did with God’s provision of salvation, people can console themselves that death should not be marked by a sober funeral; rather, it should be a time to celebrate the person’s life in order to prevent others from being too uncomfortable with such a matter. In fact, there was a minister I knew who would only speak positive things at a funeral and make a passing mention of God’s provision in light of His love. Granted, no subject matter can take away the sorrow or shock of the loss, but lame presentations of the solution and hope to man’s plight can also allow man to not feel so bad about his spiritual dilemma, and walk away with some hope, even though in the end it will prove to be a false hope.

I watched and listened as to how some responded to the death of the young man. To me, it was a time to challenge those who were coming face to face with this subject to consider their eternal destiny. Death is like a slap in the face of self-sufficiency, a powerful wave across the bow of infallibility, and a sober wakeup call that life does not operate according to some order of fairness. After all, it is a current that has no mind of its own and is managed by that which is unseen. Life reminds us that it is ever winding down towards its ultimate climax. Our spiritual walk may be upstream against the elements of this world, but life as we know it is ever flowing towards its ultimate end.

As I listened and watched how this young person’s death was dealt with, it was as if they tried to make a victim out of this 16-year-old, and yet this young man was driving some type of dirt motor bike at night without any headlight to alert oncoming traffic that he was on the road. An oncoming driver thinking that the way was clear, passed another car. Because the young man was illegally and unprepared to be on the road, two souls immediately entered into eternity.

They made this young man, who failed to show both wisdom and responsibility, sound as if he was a child who was not of the age of accountability, but the facts could not be disputed: he was a young man who for one reason or the other proved to be foolish and irresponsible in his actions. Whether it was bad circumstances and timing or he was playing the odds, daring fate, or was playing a type of Russian Roulette with his life no one can say for sure what his state of mind was at that time, but as the world would declare the odds prove to NOT be in his favor and he met his fate. Sadly, the problem is when people defy the odds and lose in such a way, others who are innocent also pay the price.

As I think of some Christians’ handling of his death, I could see how they were trying to make it easy for his friends by trying to take away the hard blows that would resonate in their souls. There are a couple of Scriptures that deal with the youth on this subject. There is the commandment that promises those who learn to obey their parents prolonged life in Exodus 20:12. There is Isaiah 57:1-2 that talks about how God takes out the righteous to avoid the calamity that is coming. Job 20:11 tells us, “His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust,” and Ecclesiastes 7:17, “Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?”

These scriptures are applicable in light of which side of eternity one finds themselves. It is clear that God may have a day for our graduation time from this world to the next, but sometimes we actually can hurry up the process. However, such presentations would not cause those living to see the urgency to call upon the name of the Lord. Up front the best Bible orator can’t begin to address the emotional fallout of such losses to those who are in the midst of the emotional upheaval. There are always those caring souls who would try to be available to talk about it at any time to help the emotionally immature handle it, but most who experience such a loss for the first time have no idea how to express themselves or step outside of the few questions that may haunt them that often begins with “Why him and not me?” Or, “God if you exist, why didn’t You prevent it?”

The “whys” become an echo that leaves one hollow. How do you talk about something when the answers will seem lame because they can’t reach the present sorrow that looms before you, or the replies seem like platitudes that come across as more mocking than comforting? Such sorrow takes one on a personal journey through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4). It is a type of death to one’s idea of life that now does not make sense. It is almost like a betrayal that has taken more than an important person in your life. Perhaps it is immaturity, an innocence, a type of hope that can never be again. At such times many prefer the silence that lets them feel what they feel whether it is anger, resentment, or utter despair because it is real.

I can’t imagine the depth of sorrow of losing a child, but I have known those who have lost children and there is nothing to celebrate about their short life unless there is hope of seeing them in the age to come. As I consider this young man’s life, the main concern remains the same for me when it comes to every individual that passes from this world into eternity, was he ready to meet his Maker? Was he living a life that spoke of a relationship with his Creator? Did he humbly show any acknowledgement towards a Savior who died in his place, took his sins away, and rose as Lord, not so he could live in sin, but so he could be delivered from the claims and wages sin had on his soul and reach his God-given potential? Was he ready, are you ready, am I ready? (Romans 3:23; 6:23; 10:9-10; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

This question is the million-dollar question, but even that amount can’t begin to cover the great cost that God’s Son paid on our behalf. He paid a debt we could not pay to ransom our souls from what ails all of us in our bodies, creates the tragedies of this life and is the reason for the real condition of this world, which is sin with its wages of death (Romans 3:23; 6:23). In spite of whether it is the door of physical death or whether we are here when Jesus comes for His church, the Bible is clear WE MUST BE READY TO MEET HIM at all times and at any time! (Matthew 24:46-51; 25:1-13; Luke 21:34-36).

The next question I ask is have Christians in any way failed this young man by not introducing him to Christ and the true Gospel of His death, burial and resurrection, or did he hear of Christ, but what Christ and in what environment? After all, it is a big part of believers’ commission to make sure every creature that can hear the Gospel does, and upon true salvation then it is up to them to do all they can to make sure they are discipled (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-18). I heard that he had some exposure to the Gospel, but did he see believers living the life of Christ like walking epistles or promoting some religion of dos and don’ts like some unfeeling stoic that seemed oppressed and unbelievable? (2 Corinthians 3:2-3). And, if he heard the true Gospel, was there power behind it or did it seem like fluff without any real reality or substance, rhetoric without any real authority, or appear as if the activity was treated more like notches on someone’s belt that they could brag about later, or idle words because of hypocrisy?

Let us say for a moment the young man was not ready to meet His God, which means He will meet Him as a Lord who can’t claim ownership over him, in the place of an infidel who wasted his life, as a bastard who has no Father to introduce him as a son in the courts of heaven, and in the end will be raised up to face his Creator as Judge that will execute judgment upon him based on the actions and deeds of the life he lived in the flesh. Such an idea makes me tremble, but it is the reality of what is so for the unsaved who think that they have no need of God. Such individuals have no problem being foolish with the life they have and squander their abilities on vanity, put God to a foolish test, and perhaps die before the time God has allotted them because of being a fool who lived as if there is no God, no judgments, no consequences, and no eternity (Matthew 10:32-33; Revelation 20:11-15).

If this young man is on the wrong side of eternity, why would we try to hide it, or act as if it is not so? To me it presents an opportunity to contend with people over their souls. Perhaps to ask the hard questions and challenge them with the harsh realities in order point them to the only hope we have in this world. Maybe in life this young man was not an example, but in death maybe his life can become an example of the tragedy of wasting a gift of life given to us by God by making even one wrong choice, of the short time we have on earth, especially in light of eternity, of warnings about foolishness, and of missed opportunities to truly experience life as God intended.

It is obvious this young man made some unwise decisions. His one choice to ride a motor bike without lights cost him dearly, not only his life, but cost others around him untold loss and sorrow. We do not know his present status for only God can rightly determine that, but what we can do, no matter how young or old we are, is to soberly consider what side of eternity we will find ourselves on. Instead of numbing ourselves in some way to death, flinging aside the idea of eternity to live as we decide to live, or make a determination to get the most out of this life no matter the cost to our soul for as long as we can, we must realize we have chosen the way of a fool who is saying by their life “there is no God” (Psalms 14:1; 53:1).

Through my life I have experienced many types of losses, but the one loss I am never willing to face, tolerate, or undergo is the loss of my relationship with God that was provided through the redemption of Jesus Christ. I know there is a countdown to my time on this earth. I must, as the Bible instructs, prepare myself to meet Him whether through the door of death or in the sky. I must be on guard for that time when His declaration goes forth that can be summarized in simple terms, “Ready or not, here I come!”

Are you ready?