Don't get me wrong. We shouldn't go through life unaware of things that can actually harm us. We should try avoiding things that can result in death, if at all possible, but in spite of our best efforts, we will all die. Eating right can certainly help. Maintaining your health can also help, but there are many things we have no control over in this life and many of them result in death.

No one can actually outrun death. It will happen to all of us and it will happen to many when least expected. Just this past weekend in our community, a young firefighter in his 20's, along with his fiance (also a firefighter), were driving to an accident when he lost control of the firetruck. It rolled four times and, though it did not kill either of them, they were air flighted to a hospital that specializes in trauma for treatment. If they survive, they have a long journey back to health. So far, we do not know why he lost control and rolled the truck.

Sometimes we know when death is approaching because we see it. My mother spent a year or so in assisted living. While there, even though she had phenomenal care (which was not cheap), she deteriorated. It was largely due to the fact that she did not want to leave her apartment and be involved in that community. Eventually, she began to lose her appetite and then they put her on "hospice" notice and contacted us. I spent a few days with her, all day in fact for a number of days. She was essentially comatose, but I took the time to talk to her, read the Word, pray with her and just let her know I was there. She died that night, passing from this life to eternity.

[caption id="attachment_35512" align="alignright" width="225"] Kashi's last few minutes before breathing her last.[/caption]

Death is always hard to deal with simply because it is so final (at least for us in this realm), since we cannot speak with loved ones and friends who have passed on any longer. That door for us is closed tightly. But the more you love a person, the more they are missed and the greater the emotional pain.

I've often wondered what it's like for animals too. We've had pets all our life. In fact, I can still remember the pets we had when I was a child. While folks who have never had pets really cannot relate to pet owners, other pet owners know exactly what I'm talking about when I say that pets add so much to our lives, don't they? Yes, they cost money to feed and take care of. Yes, you might worry about a pet like a cat that tends to roam and there's nothing you can do to keep them home. They have a wanderlust that cannot be tamed until one day, you find them dead on the road, killed by a car they could not get ahead of to get home, their safe place.