At Liberty University This Summer, I Shared An ...

At Liberty University this summer, I shared an apartment with a Navy chaplain who was taking the same course I was. He is assigned to a Marine battalion, and had recently come back from Iraq. One of the many things he did was have prayer with his men before they went out on patrol. I asked, “Did the ones you prayed for always return safely?” “No,” the chaplain replied, “In fact, many of my Marines who did not return were born-again Christians. I had to make their funeral arrangements and contact their families.” Its true, the fact that we are Christians does not necessarily shield us from tragedy. But here’s the difference: God goes beyond the funeral, beyond the crisis, beyond the pain, beyond the tragedy, and says, “When you come to this experience of death, I will take care of you even there … I will take care of you especially there. You can’t be hurt here. Death loses its sting. It loses its punch. It can’t hurt you. I’ll protect you.” If you’ve been adopted into God’s family, he’ll protect you from the greatest danger of all – the danger of missing heaven.