December 27th

Today,  an Iconic personality died.  Carrie Fisher, known best at Princess Lea in Star Wars.  60!  A heart attack!  A heart attack on a plane as she was flying home!   Another singer of fame died this week, George Michael's, singer/song writer, rumors speculate it was a drug overdose of some kind. He was 53.  

As Americans we are not a culture that handles death well.  We are certain that there will be something that will prolong our lives or fix whatever is bothering us.  We are certain there is doctor, or  essential oil or food group to consume or to avoid that will make all things right again.  We tend to run from one fad to another to find that illusive 'fountain of youth' or perhaps better stated 'fountain of life'.   

My blog for this year is titled Route 66-The Sixty Sixth year.  As I type this, it is surreal, 66! I am 66, when did that happen?  I am still me with that 'old' number now assigned to my name, my drivers license, my now Medicare Card...I actually have a Medicare Card...Yikes, those are for people who are old!

One day I too will die.  Tonight?  Tomorrow?  30 years from now?  If we stop long enough to ponder those thoughts of life and death and what do our lives consist of it is sobering.  Did my tiny footprint on the earth make any difference at all?   I am not a 'star' whose face will be seen in movies for years to come.  I did not write music or make recordings for people to know my voice in the days ahead. 

Carrie Fisher's days were numbered by God.  Michael George's days were know by God as well.  If his death was due to some sort of abuse, it was not God's doing but He did know that he caused his days to be shortened by those choices.  My days too are numbered.   I am certain that I have more days behind me than I do ahead of me.  

"The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away." Psalm 90:10 (Bible) 

A quote that fits very well into this blog focus is this: 

"If you live every day as if it were your last, some day you will be right and those previous days would be rich and probably amazing." 

I am going to close this blog asking you to think about 'you'.  What is your relationship with God   Oh, not a religion.  Religions are of man.  God, the creator of life!  Seek Him while you can, He desires to be found.  Neither you nor I can know when our last day on earth will be but we can know that our last day on earth can be our first day with the Lord.  

I debated about sharing the rest of the Psalm I pulled from above, as I close out these thoughts.  I am going to end with these words from the Bible.   Carrie Fisher and Michael George did not know that this New Years was not going to include them.  You and I do not know that information either.  But eternity is important.    Embracing the gift of life is too.  

"So teach us to number our days
    that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Return, O Lord! How long?
    Have pity on your servants!
 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    and for as many years as we have seen evil.
 Let your work be shown to your servants,
    and your glorious power to their children.
 Let the favor^[ of the Lord our God be upon us,
    and establish the work of our hands upon us;
    yes, establish the work of our hands!"  Psalm 90:12-17