What's to stop YOU from dying?

Yesterday evening the father of my best friend passed away after a most unexpected heart attack. He was healthy and happy with a new job and had a close relationship with his family. I hugged him goodbye as I left my friend's house before returning to Ukraine for the summer, saying ''See you in September!'' as I walked out the door. 

He had got me my first steady job during my time in England at the new ACE school he had set up last winter. The family always welcomed me into their home. Him and his wife are fast friends of my parents and always supported and encouraged us as we lived in England and eventually in our missions work when we moved to Ukraine. He was a good man who always got back on his feet when he got knocked down. He was a man of vision and great ambition. 

And now he's gone. 

No one saw it coming. He hadn't had any heart problems and he was recovering nicely from a series of health issues from the previous year. He had everything going for him... and then... gone. 

This and many other events around the world have got me thinking: what's to stop ME from dying right now? 

The 300 people getting onto Mayalsia Flight 370 had no idea that not only were they going to die but that their bodies and the plane would never be found. They just got on the plane. Some rode in Economy, some in Business class. But what did it matter? They were going to die anyway. 

Ukraine, my Ukraine, is in a state of war. Russian (because they are Russian) separatists are dying left, right and centre because they are blindly following a man who kills off his own officials just because they became more popular than him. Civilians are dying because of stray bullets and men are laying down their lives to protect their country because of the greed of another nation. 

Hundreds of Russian and Ukrainian women are being widowed. Hundreds of children are being half or completely orphaned. Parents are losing children. Some people are losing the only family they've got. Just like that. 

According to BBC News a total of 304 of the 476 passengers onboard the Sewol ferry in South Korea are known to have died. Those people got on that boat with a destination in mind: Jeju City. Perhaps some of them were going to visit family or take a holiday. Maybe it was someone's first time on a boat and it was so exciting. Maybe getting on that ship was someone's step towards a second chance at life. Who knows? All we know is that no one reached their destination and only some managed to keep their heads above the water. I don't think that any of them woke up that morning knowing that they were going to die. 

Four teenagers - 3 Israelis and 1 Palestinian - died the other week. The life from their bodies beaten out of them for no apparent reason. 

"Yeah, that happens all the time everywhere in the world. It's sad but what can you do?"

Well, now two nations are blowing each other up. People are dying. It was like a switch was flicked and then boom. You're walking in the street and then... you're no longer walking, you're no longer alive because a massive piece of building has just crushed your body. You're now another number in the mass that will be reported on the 6 o'clock news tonight.

So much death and tragedy surrounds us. So many occurances that no one ever saw coming happen. What's to stop you from being part of one of them? I could walk out my door and get hit by a bus and die tomorrow because well, these things happen. I'm just another person who got hit by a bus, but my family would be distraught and my life will have been cut short. Just like that.

What would my life amount to? What would I leave behind? Where would I go? 

Thankfully, I already know. Do you?


In loving memory of Pieter Van Rooyen... can't believe he's gone. Although he will sorely be missed, we know that he is dancing in heaven praising his Saviour, Jesus Christ for the rest of Eternity. Praise the Lord.