Death Cannot Be The End Of Our Existence

Death Cannot Be The End Of Our Existence

When I was a baby, while I was born healthy, I almost lost my life because of a can of tainted milk. When my temperature shot off the chart, my father placed me in a container of water that also contained ice in order to help bring my temperature down. Fortunately for me, my fever broke. Death cannot be the end of our existence.

When we are young, we feel invincible & immortal. However, sometimes an event takes place that can shake us to our very core. The death of Dennis Winkleman did that for me. Dennis was an upstanding young man who was only out of high school for one year after garnering one of our school’s highest awards — the Son’s of the American Revolution Award for outstanding service. He went to bed one night complaining of a stomach ache — and he was gone the next morning. This was a tremendous shock to our town of 1,600. Lola Burnham and I had a date the night of his wake — so we stopped off at the funeral home first. I remember that we were so affected by what happened that we hardly talked the rest of the night. Death cannot be the end of our existence.

While I would not come to know about her until many years later, my aunt Margarita was a stunningly beautiful teenager that rivaled the beauty of even my mother. She was also full of life, had a vibrant personalty and loved everyone in general. She died around the age of 16 from an overdose of sulfa drugs — which was a new treatment at the time for some infections. Death cannot be the end of our existence.

My grandfather Herbert Anderson Snow was always larger than life to me. While he suffered from a number of physical ailments, he never complained and always found a way to overcome his ‘thorns in the flesh’. With some great help along the way from my grandmother and others, Doc Snow built a successful dental practice and a farm operation. But, while I always thought that if anyone could live forever — he certainly could, my grandfather died, too. In fact, within a year of his death I would lose four relatives. Death cannot be the end of our existence.

Greg Mahlandt was an English teacher at the high school where I graduated. While he never married, he was heavily involved in the community and with various causes — including the restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Dana House. Since he traveled often, he had many friends all over the world. His death in his forties was a tremendous blow to our little town. Greg is missed by many to this day. Death cannot be the end of our existence.

When my kids were born, I was there to welcome them into our beautiful world! I will never forget the roller coaster ride that Brian Cota put us through as we had to get him out of the womb quickly because he was in trouble. Then, because of the drugs that were used to speed the process along — his mother struggled for a bit after Brian was born. Her blood pressure dropped like a heavy stone in water. In the space of a very few minutes I faced the possibility of losing one or the other. Death cannot be the end of our existence.

Don Runyon was a major mentor in my life. During my college years, his family ‘adopted’ me. In fact, the very first night I was there, during a cookout, a water fight erupted and we were all drenched. There was never a dull moment in this family! He also helped me get my first job out of college. After many years of great times, Don developed a brain tumor in his early sixties and thankfully was taken quickly. Death cannot be the end of our existence.

In the past three months, fifteen people with various degrees of closeness to me have died. I shed most of my tears at the death and its aftermath of Mark Siemens. Since then I have I have just felt numb and drained emotionally.While I have to admit that since I am getting older and know many people ‘death’s gauntlet’ was bound to happen — I truly believe with all my heart that death cannot be the end of our existence.

Thankfully — it isn’t! God said that if I believe in his son Jesus Christ — I will live for eternity in a paradise that is beautiful beyond my imagination. God’s great gift was offered freely and was mine for the taking. All I had to do was believe in God’s promises. As C.S. Lewis wrote: “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”

The wonderful thing about believing in Jesus Christ is that I will see all of my loved ones who have passed again — because they believed in Jesus Christ too! So I will see Margarita, Dennis, my grandfather, Greg, Don and many others soon! Talking about making the best of a bad situation, this realization is the only thing that can turn even a funeral into a celebration!

I go back to what the mother of Mario’s kids said the other day: she sensed that Mario was very scared as he was laying in his hospital bed staring death in the face. My heart went out to Mario — not just because he was dying…..but because his religion failed him during the time that he needed it most. This is is a terrible lesson to learn when it is almost too late to do something about it.

I would not wish suffering and death on my enemies — and even less on those who I love, respect and cherish. It just about kills me even to watch an animal die. But since we will all have to face death — I just don’t want anyone else to be afraid of it. Please take the time to make sure that your spiritual belief system will not fail you in the end — like it did my friend Mario! It is THE eternal question and you are very precious to me!

AAC