Jonesboro. Paducah. Columbine. And now Chardon, Ohio. Another school shooting.
Having spent so much of my life on high school campuses, my heart sinks every time I see those all-too-familiar scenes. Students running - and crying, parents desperately seeking information, SWAT teams moving in, law enforcement briefings, shooter profiles, ambulances converging. And those heartbreaking candlelight vigils.
And once again - for a brief window in time - there's an eternity moment. One national reporter said, "These students are talking way beyond their years today." Suddenly, checking Facebook, sweating the test, talking about everyone's social "drama" seems so unimportant. Because a brush with eternity changes everything. At least for a little while.
For those traumatized teenagers in a shocked and grieving Ohio town, the eternity moment came with gunshots in the cafeteria. But we all have those moments. That narrow miss - in traffic, in a disaster - when we know how close we were to no tomorrow. The sudden death of someone we didn't expect to lose - and the unwelcome but insistent reminder of our own mortality. The ominous symptoms. The sobering news from the doctor. The medical procedure we might not come back from.
It's hard - and slightly unnatural, I guess - to imagine ourselves as being the obituary, the name and picture on the funeral home memorial card. But then comes that brush with eternity when we realize, "It could have been me."
It's not something to dwell on. But it is something to be ready for. After all, we go to a lot of effort to be ready for a job interview, a date, an exam, a vacation, a financial future, our retirement. None of which holds a candle to eternity - that vast forever just beyond our final breath.
The circumstances that bring our mortality close are often painful, even tragic like the wrenching events this week in an Ohio high school. But those brushes with eternity can also serve to help save our soul.
A Biblical prophet warned us to "prepare to meet your God" (Amos 4:12). Because that's what's on the other side of our last heartbeat - our unpostponeable appointment with God. "Man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Grade points and bank accounts and "to do" lists and earth stuff will, in an instant, matter no more. All that will matter is whether we're right with God. In a moment, we're suddenly facing destination time - where will I spend forever?
Surveys show that most Americans think they'll go to heaven when they die. Jesus, though, talked about "the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Matthew 7:14). That's not His fault. He did everything He could do to clear away the curse that disqualifies us all from God's heaven - our sin. Our arrogant control of a life God gave us and that He was supposed to run. All the lying things, the hurting things, the selfish things, the dirty things, the God-ignoring things we've done. The verdict is clear: "Nothing impure will ever enter" God's heaven (Revelation 21:27).
No religion can get us in. Because my sin carries an eternal death penalty - "the soul who sins will die" (Ezekiel 18:4). No religion can die for me. A perfect God cannot welcome me into His perfect heaven with my sin.
And a death penalty cannot be paid by being a good boy - no, somebody has to die. And Somebody did. Jesus did. God's one and only Son. He is, the Bible announces, "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). On Good Friday, God's "Lamb" offered Himself as the sacrifice to do the dying for my sin. To erase that sin from God's book forever. To remove what will keep me out of His heaven.
One day - when a church leader used a ringing alarm clock to show time running out - I put all my trust in Jesus to be my Savior from my sin. So I'm not worried about eternity - and I've had several close brushes with it to test my confidence in Jesus. And there's just simply been no fear. Jesus promised - in blood - that "whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). I have put my total trust in Him to be my Rescuer from my sin. I know He'll keep His promise.
It's awesome to know, because of Jesus, that you're ready for eternity - whenever, and however it comes.
Maybe you're not sure you're ready for eternity - and you'd like to be. The Bible describes "eternal life" as a gift that's yours at the point you take it for yourself. If you'd like to do that - and begin your eternity-changing relationship with Jesus Christ - I hope you'll go to YoursForLife.net. That's where you'll find my simple explanation of how to get started.