I'm Leaving Now - I

 

Mike McDonald, a first cousin of my coworker’s wife, died on September 16. No, let me rephrase that, according to the obituary Mike McDonald, “…was called home to be with his Lord on Friday, September 16, 2011”. A couple of weeks prior to Mike’s homecoming he and his wife, Marjorie, recorded a song entitled, I’m Leaving Now. I suggest you listen to it before continuing with this post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhPQnm8wzh8

In light of Mike’s September 16 homecoming the song is especially poignant – but does its poignancy lie solely in the fact that Mike died shortly after recording the song with his wife – or does it also lie in the message it brings to us and that it speaks to us of a subject our society avoids – death? In this series of posts I want to explore Mike and Marjorie’s song from a least three perspectives; 1) of a life lived; 2) is the song true? 3) our society’s attitude toward death.

Mike is the third young man (young for me!) who has had some connection with me that has been “called home to be with his Lord” in the past few months. While I didn’t actually know Mike, knowing John (my coworker), listening to Mike’s song, hearing John’s thoughts about Mike, and reading about Mike, have all served to give me a sense of Mike. Mike (age 39), Patrick (age 46), and Stacy (aged 41), were all men with families and men who were committed to Jesus Christ – all of their deaths were sudden – and all of their deaths were homecomings. All of their wives and children have hope and assurance that death is but a portal into the presence of our Lord Jesus – and while the pain and grief are real, so is the assurance and hope.

I see from Mike’s obituary that he was a member of Calvary Temple in Williamsport, MD. I know from John that Mike played in the church band. I learned from a quick Google search that Calvary Temple is “Apostolic”, and since I’ve never been in an Apostolic church that wasn’t exuberant and unashamed of its Christian witness I’m pretty certain that Mike was full of joyful life; and not just on Sundays.

Mike’s song left his family and friends a message that he isn’t dead but that he is with Jesus. He left them a message that he hopes he’ll see them one day – based on the Person of Jesus Christ. Is Mike’s song based on wishful antiquated thinking, or is it true?

I’m amazed that we don’t talk about the one thing in life that is certain for us all – death. When we do talk about it, it is often in terms of estate planning, life insurance, or euthanasia (a generally utilitarian discussion). In the business world we are constantly focused on the “bottom-line” and we have no trouble talking about the bottom-line of a business (unless we want to avoid unpleasant realities – which does happen), but we don’t discuss the bottom-line that is true for every person ever born into this world…death.

Mike, Patrick, and Stacy had the best estate planning possible for their families – a relationship with Jesus Christ – unless of course Mike’s song isn’t true, unless of course Jesus was a liar or a lunatic (remember that Jesus couldn’t have been a “good man”).