A Mist

A mist.

“Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”  
Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”  
                                           James 4:13,14.
“A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” 
“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 
The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” 
                                                                                                   Isaiah 40:6-8.

When I was in secondary school I had to memorize a poem I memorized this one by Carl Sandburg entitled grass

Grass

Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.

Shovel them under and let me work—

                                          I am the grass; I cover all.

And pile them high at Gettysburg

And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.

Shovel them under and let me work.

Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:

                                          What place is this?

                                          Where are we now?

                                          I am the grass.

                                          Let me work.

I think it’s safe to say that most people in the world will at best be remembered fifty years after their death by no more than a few family members.
On the tomb of the unknown soldier is the inscription “known only to God”. How sad.
In terms of eternity we are simply a mist upon this world. But life does not end with death.
The Egyptians and all ancient cultures believed in an after life.
The Egyptian ruler even made monuments to illustrate their importance. They filled their pyramids with grave goods deemed essential to the after life.
While the ancient Britain’s didn’t build huge pyramids, throughout Britain many graves have been found filled with grave goods also deemed necessary for the after life.
The ancients truly believed in an after life.
As a Christian I do also. I believe also that it is there that we will truly meet God face to face.
It is there we will meet Jesus as our Lord and Saviour or our judge.
C.S. Lewis wrote of Jesus,
“He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less.” 
                             C.S. Lewis 
Tony Campolo wrote something interesting he said,
“When you were born, you cried and everybody else was happy. The only question that matters is this - when you die, will you be happy when everybody else is crying?”
                                                                                                         Tony Campolo
Do you know where you will spend eternity?
Are you certain you are right with God?
If you don’t believe in God and an afterlife are you truly sure you are right?
To quote C. S. Lewis once again, he wrote,
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
                                                          C. S. Lewis
If we Christians are incorrect in our beliefs then there is nothing to fear.
On the other hand if we are right there is a lot to fear.
Think About it.