Driving to my study this morning, I heard in five minutes of radio news all I needed to know to write today's essay. As of 7:00 this morning, NASA has delayed the launch of the space shuttle, due to an electrical short in one of the three main fuel cells. Engineers must determine whether they can fly the shuttle as it is, or need to make repairs. The latter would delay the launch, probably until late October.

President Bush is scheduled to make a major speech later today. He will discuss the war on terror, and new plans for prosecuting those being held as war criminals. A wildfire is raging in Washington state, consuming 160,000 acres of land with no end in sight. And Steve Irwin's father has spoken regarding his son's tragic death. By now you've heard that the famous naturalist was killed by a stingray while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. His father has determined that the memorial service will be low-key, as his son would have wanted.

I could not have predicted the first three stories a week ago, or even yesterday. Space flight is risky; the war on terror is unlike any other we've fought; the elements cannot always be controlled. But death comes to us all. Steve Irwin's father said that his son died while doing what he loved. But he would have died eventually, anyway. Unless Jesus returns first, we will all come to the end of this road and the beginning of the next.

The five-year anniversary of 9-11 comes next Monday. In preparation for that most somber of all days, it seems a good idea to consider a subject none of us really wants to discuss--the reality of death. Why do we die? What happens when we die? How can we be ready when death comes? Hopefully, no one reading today's essay will need this help for a very long time. But it's likely that some of us will.

First question: Will death come for you? Is there any way out? W.C. Fields on his deathbed was seen thumbing through a Bible. Someone asked why. His answer: "Looking for loopholes." But he didn't find any. The death rate is still 100 percent.

You and I are one day closer to eternity than we have ever been. God's word warns us: "It is appointed unto all men once to die, and then the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Death comes for us all: "All can see that wise men die; the foolish and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others" (Psalm 49:10). In fact, "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 4:14). Let's continue tomorrow, unless death comes today.

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