THE TOMB IS NOT THE END

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.”  (1 Thessalonians 4:13 NLT)

For half a century I have been writing my thoughts in prose and in verse -- history, philosophy, drama, romance, tradition, satire, ode, and song. I have tried it all. But I feel I have not said the thousandth part of what is in me. When I go down to the grave I can say, like many others, "I have finished my day's work!" But I cannot say, "I have finished my life." My day's work will begin again the next morning. The tomb is not a blind alley; it is a thoroughfare. It closes on the twilight, it opens on the dawn. 
 
-- Victor Hugo

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MOVING INTO A NEW LIFE

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”  (John 14:1-4 NIV)

If we can ever get deep into our hearts that death is transition and not annihilation, that death is a movement from one context of living to another, then it becomes clear to us even at the end of our life in history that every exit is an entrance, every experience of death is also the prelude to an experience of birth. It can give rise to an enormous sense of hope that God is able to give us new places to grow and new things to become. We cease to be totally afraid of death and see it as moving into another arena of God's everlasting growing. 

-- John Claypool in an article titled "Hopeful Coping with Grief"

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A NEW ADVENTURE IN EXISTENCE

NOTE: Today, March 29, 2016, is the 17^th anniversary of our SOUND BITES Ministry™.  It was begun in 1999 in memory of our son, Dustin, who had died on March 29, 1998. Today's quote is an Easter reminder that death is not the end, but A NEW ADVENTURE IN EXISTENCE. It speaks to what I believe SOUND BITES is all about.

On this 17^th anniversary, as I have done each year, I invite you to share how SOUND BITES has ministered to you and/or how you have used SOUND BITES to minister to others. Since SOUND BITES is now available via e-mail, blog, Facebook, and Twitter, you are welcome to respond through any of those means.

Blessings…

Rev. Dave Wilkinson, SOUND BITES Ministry™

A NEW ADVENTURE IN EXISTENCE

Jesus grants courage for the final passage. He did for Charles Lindbergh, the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. When the pilot discovered that he had terminal cancer, he and his wife went to spend their final days at his Hawaiian home. He engaged a minister to conduct the last rites and wrote out these words to be read at his burial service:

"We commit the body of Charles A. Lindbergh to its final resting place; but his spirit we commit to Almighty God, knowing that death is but a new adventure in existence and remembering how Jesus said upon the cross, "Father, into Thy hands I comment My Spirit."

Death -- "a new adventure in existence." No need to dread it or ignore it. Because of Christ , you can face it.

-- Max Lucado in Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear

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OUR ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST

Eternal life is not an unending continuance of this life -- that would, perhaps, be Hell -- but eternal life is quite a different life, divine, not mundane; perfect, not earthly; true life, not corrupt half-life.  We cannot form a conception of eternal life.  What we imagine is ever simply of the earth, temporal, worldly.  Nor could we know anything about our eternal life if it had not appeared in Jesus Christ.  In Him we realize that we were created for the eternal life… "It is life with God, in God, from God; life in perfect fellowship."

-- Emil Brunner in Our Faith

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A BETTER PLACE

One of the things Randy Alcorn accomplishes in his chapter on heaven in Game Plan for Life is to quiet our misconception that life after death for the Christian is going to be boring. A never-ending church service. All Christmas carols and choir books.

Actually, the Bible says heaven will be a total experience of newness that touches everything about us and everything we do. Not just better singing and sermons. Not just better food options at church potlucks. Better everything. The very best of everything. Renewed, remade, reborn.

God has promised, "I will create new heavens and a new earth" (Isaiah 65:17), meaning that while we're going to live in a place we've never been before, it will contain perfected elements of things we've always known. But instead of fatigue and physical limitations, we'll have total freedom of enjoyment. Instead of sin's empty promises, we'll know constant satisfaction. Instead of having to lock our doors and watch our backs, we'll learn what it really means to live without fear. Of anything.

Don't go worrying that God is baiting you with free gift offers that are going to end up being a time-share presentation. These new heavens and new earth are His gift of undying, undiluted life to you. It's definitely something you don't want to miss.

-- Joe Gibbs in his blog Game Plan for Life: Two-Minute Drills


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