Note: On Fridays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
And so he died, for the most part abandoned by his friends and the adoring throngs who had accompanied him much of the past
three years. That’s what happens when you challenge earthly authorities, it seems. That’s what happens when you stand up for God and those two greatest commandments.
And if we truly desire to grow ever closer to the Father, it’s what happens to us as well.
- It happens not only when we breathe our last, but when we put aside a displeasing behavior… and lose our companions in addiction or chicanery.
- It happens when we shut down a gossipy conversation… and anger a friend, no matter how diplomatic we are about it.
- It happens when we stand up for religious freedom, to the astonishment of those who assume that because we look like them and dress like them, we always think like them.
Death. If we listen to the Lord, it comes to us every day. And leaves us stronger and more faithful in its wake.
