We are just in the end of January and many things have happened already. Sadly, they are quite unpleasant news: from the Australia wildfires, the Jakarta floods, the Ukraine airlines crash, the tragic passing of Kobe Bryant, to the coronavirus outbreak.

What in the world is going on?

Early this month, I came across this verse:

No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit,
And no one has power in the day of death.

(Ecclesiastes 8:8 NKJV)

I wished to write something about it, but did not really have time until today (just a few hours before the month of February).

Death is the word we all probably don’t want to hear. It is often associated with extinction, a non-existent state which we all don’t know exactly what is really happening on the other side. It is a separation from the loved ones, from this temporary life on earth. I could not write more because I myself have not experienced it… (I wish there is no death and all humans can live forever in happiness. At least, if I should depart from this earth to eternity, I would rather be taken up to heaven without having to die—the miraculous event Christians believe as “Rapture” before the Second Coming of Christ.)

The reality is, however, as mentioned in the above verse: humans are powerless in the day of death. This is not a joke. We all one day will return to the Creator of Life and give an account of ourselves, for what we have (or have not) done in this life.

I don’t want to pretend that I know the solution. Really, only God knows everything. For what has happened (or hasn’t), only He knows why.

But what I do know (and believe) is that God is love (because the Bible tells me so). And I know there is someone who had experienced death and come back to life. His name is Jesus, and he said the following:

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.

(John 11:25-26 NKJV)

I don’t believe those are empty words. As far as I know, nobody on this planet has ever had a courage to proclaim such a strong, bold statement.

I don’t believe Jesus is a liar. I don’t believe he is a lunatic either. I don’t believe an ordinary man has authority for even saying those words.

If those words are meaningless, then we are all in trouble: our lives are essentially meaningless too. Why? Because there is no hope for future (we are all simply born to die, to stop existing, so we may do whatever we want while we are alive).

I choose to believe. Those words are revelation from the Life Giver Himself… to give an assurance of hope in the midst of uncertainties in this world… to comfort those who mourn for the passing of the beloved ones… to encourage us that one day we will see the Lord of heaven and earth face to face [in His glorious home] where there is no more pain, no more tears, no more darkness.

Do you believe this?

Vancouver, January 31, 2020