9/28/24-Full Coverage

Bart: I figure I'll go for the life of sin followed by the presto-chango deathbed repentance.

Brother Faith: Why not spend your life helping people instead?  Then you are covered in the case of sudden death.

Bart: Full coverage.  Hmm.

Even Bart Simpson realized that leading a honorable life might be a good idea for the best chance of fulfillment in the afterlife.

I really don't want to get preachy in my blog, but there will be some instances where I do talk about the importance of my faith in dealing with what I am going through.

People have told me they are impressed on how I am handling my mortality.  I don't know if that is actually true.  I am not happy about the realization that my death is not only inevitable and unavoidable but is coming sooner than I had hoped or planned.  But at the same time I'm not depressed all the time.  I don't think I have the feeling of why me or blaming people for my illness.

I heard a discussion about it being harder to face death as a non-religious person.  The implication was that an atheist was writing to a priest about being afraid of death because in that person's belief after death it was just the end.  The priest said he understood the person's apprehension, but that having a belief that life on earth is only a part of the journey to heaven.  And that knowledge makes death something not to be feared but to look forward to. 

I am not saying everyone needs to be Christian to deal with death.  I don't know a lot about other belief systems.  I wish I could understand how other people's faith systems work.  But I do believe that having some belief in the supernatural helps when looking toward the end.

In my case, I think the reason that I am able to deal with my death is my belief in the Catholic Faith.  I am far from the perfect Catholic but I am always looking to try to understand my religion and to become closer to Jesus and God.

The way I look at what I am going through is that there is really only three things that can happen.

1. I will be healed by medical intervention.  This can only occur by Jesus working through the doctor's hands.
2. I will be healed by divine intervention.  Jesus is the great healer and if by his will He can heal me if He chooses to do so.
3. I will die.  In this case God has a bigger purpose for me and I need to accept that.  He is the one who gives life and is the one who ends it.

I hope to spend what time I do have left learning about and becoming closer to God and preparing for the time when I will meet Jesus in heaven.