Dying

Some colorful remains of autumn.  If leaves have to die, what a beautiful way to go!
The death of a young friend in this dying time of year has me reflecting what death means to me as someone who believes in Jesus.  And wondering how to talk about death to the grieving, especially to the young.
To put it simply, I believe that when I die God receives me into God's loving embrace forever.    When I say "believe" I don't mean I "guess."  I mean that my faith in God makes me sure that I will be with God forever. 
I have believed for most of my life that God is living within me.  I see God in the beauty all around me in nature and in the goodness of people.  God could not be more present to me.  Where growth happens is in me, in my awareness of God's presence and in my loving surrender to God.  Death completes that process.
I have said before in this blog that I find it helpful to think of heaven, not as somewhere in the sky or somewhere far away, but as right here, right now. The other world is woven into and through this world.  The fact that I can't see the dead doesn't mean that they are not here around me.  I talk to them and ask them to pray for me.  When someone dies, I ask the already dead person who knew them best to help them get "settled into" the other world.  I don't know if that's how it works, but I don't see why not.  I think of the dead and risen Jesus as the "portal" through which the dying pass into the other world.