Early this morning, a dear woman of God, the wife of one of my Pathways teammates, left the struggle of this earthly life behind and entered her eternal dwelling with the Lord. JoHannah had been struggling with cancer for over the last few years, and the Lord decided it was time for her to join Him. Her husband and my friend, Brad, would appreciate your prayers. They were a ministry-minded couple who pastored for many years, and for the past nearly ten years, he has been working with me in Pathways Bible Training.

I’ve been praying much for both Brad and JoHannah of late, and her “homegoing” today was peaceful and an answer to prayer. 2 Cor. 5:8 reminds us that to “be away from the body is to be at home with the Lord.” JoHannah lived her life following Paul’s words in Phil. 1:21, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

That got me thinking about the need for us all to be ready to meet the Lord. None of us knows how long we have. Am I living each day prepared for God to call me home, making the most of every moment He gives me? Oftentimes, I get caught up with all the details of life, and “building bigger barns” (cf. Luke 12:13-21), instead of living each day with eternity in perspective. There is nothing wrong with planning for the future, and Jesus affirms this when he mentions counting the cost of discipleship (king evaluates before going out to war, etc.), but our earthly plans for tomorrow must not take priority over living for Christ today.

I want to live my life without regret. Unfortunately, I can reflect on all too many times that I regret how I spent my time, decisions I made, good I neglected to do, times I got caught up in work rather than spending it with the family. The biggest regret anyone might ever experience would be to live this life for themselves or for people, but not for the Lord. And for eternity they will pay the price for that regrettable choice. You may be doing good things, and helping many people, but if you are not walking with Christ and surrendered to Him, honoring Him in all your ways, good things and benefitting people won’t save you. JoHannah told her doctors just a few days before the end that she was not afraid to die. Such courage as that only comes from knowing Who is on the other side of the portal of death to meet her, and having lived a life that shined for Jesus.

My prayer for you is that such confidence is yours. Death has no hold on you, no power over you, if you belong to Christ. He is the resurrection and the life (John 11), and your future is secure with Him. May you (and I) draw near to Jesus, today and every day, as we keep our eyes fixed on the Prize of the “upward call in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3)