The Bible tells us in Hebrews 9:27, “For it is appointed unto man to die once and after this the judgment”. We were once again reminded of this very fact this past week with the passing of our beloved Charlie Shelton. His kind spirit and friendly demeanor with be sorely missed. I think Charlie taught us all how a Christian should show love and kindness to everyone no matter what we may be going through. When I think about Charlie from now on I will remember him this way… “Well done good and faithful servant”. Our prayers continue for Linda, Chad and Craig and the entire Shelton family.

No matter how long someone might live, most folks are seldom ready for the end of life to come. And when life ends before the usual expected time, we are obviously thrown into shock and grief. But even when someone has lived a full and long life, we are still filled with pain and loss. We weren’t quite ready to say goodbye, and we likely never would have been. If you have ever felt this way at seeing a long life come to a close you are not alone.

Moses’ life, after living 120 years on this earth, came to the end. You might think that surely after 120 years that one would feel that the end would actually be a relief. Moses even says, “I am no longer able to come and go” (Deut. 31:2). But in spite of all of those years, and in spite of waning energy he said, “O Lord GOD, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand; for what God is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours? ‘Let me, I pray, cross over and see the fair land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon” (Duet. 3:24-25). Did you catch that? After 120 years Moses feels that God had only begun to show His greatness, and Moses is right. After 120 years Moses wants to see one more thing. I think I can imagine it, because I have watched my loved ones go and wanted just a few more moments with them. I just wanted to tell them one more thing or hear one more word of wisdom, one more word of love, one more word of assurance from their lips. It’s not even that they left before their time. It’s that they left before MY time. They left before I was ready for them to go.