Consider this past Friday.

On the other side of the world, a huge and devastating earthquake hit Japan and was soon followed by an even more disastrous tsunami. We still don’t know how many have been killed. The damage to the Japanese economy, infrastructure and the everyday workings of life are inestimable.

While such an incomprehensible tragedy was taking place there, here at home in Oklahoma, we were suffering raging wildfires, that in the end burned at least forty-nine homes, several barns, outbuildings and thousands of acres.

Another report on a completely different kind of disaster in North Africa says that 250,000 displaced refugees are fleeing the violent and deadly conflicts between Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and forces rebelling against him.

Still another completely different kind of tragedy takes place in New York wherein a tour bus crashes killing fourteen people. And oh yes, don’t forget the suicide bomber who killed himself and another forty people in Iraq.

It is all horrific. But none of this is new. We are dying on a daily basis and learning all over again that the material stuff of this life is flimsy and temporary.

In no way am I attempting to minimize any of the loss or suffering connected with these latest disturbing circum-stances. It is just that we know bad things like these have been happening throughout history. Earthquakes, tsunamis, fires, wars, deliberate violence as well as tragic accidents are the normal stuff of human history. Some such tragedies come to thousands at a time.

Others come to individuals and their families. What’s the bottom line? None of us will get out of this life alive.

Whether our lives end quietly while we sleep in our beds, or violently in a storm or war, we will all leave this life to face the next. Thousands have abruptly left this world within the last few days. When will your time come? I am not being overdramatic or emotional. I am being realistic and you know it. We face death every day of life.

This is exactly why God sent Jesus to us. Jesus said that He came to give us life, and not only eternal life but a more abundant life while we live on earth, John 10:10. Who wouldn’t want both of those?

Jesus said that you can hold on to your life and eventually lose it, or you can give your life to Him and get it back many times over (Matthew 16:24-27 & 19:27-30).

He promises rest to the weary (Matthew 11:28-29) and peace to the anxious (John 14:27 & Philippians 4:6-7).

Let’s face it. The Son of God is the only real insurance against loss any of us have. So, what have you done about it?