Accepting Our Mortality

'For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.' 1 Corinthians 15: 21-22

Death is the final intruder into human affairs. It comes to all of us. With it's awesome power it calls to a halt human activity, notwithstanding all its significance and pomp, or its folly and fragility. The inevitability of death's knock at our door is usually far from our minds. We are far too busy with life and the things that seem so important. It is only when we are stricken with some illness that we have to face our mortality and begin to evaluate the motives and purpose of our busyness and existence.

Some on contracting a serious illness, are propelled into a frantic search for healing, particularly when conventional medicine has nothing more to offer. Such a search is not inapprppriate for death should be resisted, more so when its intrusion appears to be premature. ( What is unhelpful is the frantic nature of such a search. ) God's healing has certainly come to some but clearly not to others. The significant difference in most cases has not been a lack of faith or prayer. The difference remains shrounded in mystery.

Healing through God's intervention is never a matter of human technique nor it is under human control. Thus the search for healing can be embarked upon but healing can never be demanded nor made certain. It can only be a cry of faith in the face of mystery.

At the same time, there needs to be a recognition that it may well be time to go home. Living in the hope of the resurection, that homecoming  need not fill us with fear, and may even be a welcome prospect. In all of this, we need to recognize that our human life is ultimately fragile. We need to accept its limitations and embrace the reality of our own mortality. Then we can cast ourselves upon the grace and promises of God.

- Rest in Peace Patrick Swayze.Too Bad, no more dirty dancing for you but you will be remembered and missed.
- Rest in Peace Mark Reyes. You will be missed especially your Music.


credits: 
www.monash.edu.au
www.biblegateway.com
Life in full Stride, Charles Ringma

Dear Zoe by Philip Beard

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Dear Zoe is a letter, from Tess DeNunzio to her younger sister, who died in a hit-and-run accident on a day when the world’s attention was focused elsewhere, with no grief to spare for Zoe’s death, except in Tess’s family. On September Eleventh, 2001, Zoe died, leaving Tess and her family devastated. It’s certainly something we don’t think about, all the personal tragedies that played out on that day. When you hear the words ‘September Eleventh,’ you see the towers falling or the Pentagon smoking, not the individual deaths of all of those people, related or not to terrorism, on that day.

That’s not what that day means to Tess, though. To fifteen-year-old Tess and her family, it means the loss of her little sister, Zoe. It means their lives are changed forever, in ways the rest of the world (to whom that day may seem life-changing as well) can never imagine. Still, Tess has to find a way to handle it all, to go on with her life, to keep on living even if Zoe can’t.

Philip Beard’s Dear Zoe is a powerful and emotional story about love, grief, growing up, and moving on even when forgetting is impossible. It’s a story about one personal tragedy on a day when everyone else mourns the deaths of thousands of others. In Dear Zoe, Tess is just one of a cast of very real characters; her voice is powerful, and will have the reader’s attention from the beginning to the end, keeping the reader breathless and racing through the book, but still not going too quickly–wouldn’t want to miss something!

Dear Zoe is a powerfully moving, beautifully written story that will haunt readers even after closing the book at the end of the last page. This painfully real, breathtaking novel is sure to be a favorite with all who read it.

Rating: 10/10 (And I’d give it more if I could…Wait, who says I can’t? 20/10!)

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Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Category:	Books
Genre:	Other
Author:	James Hilton

Bring some hankies!!!

This book is great for high schoolers and adults. Mr. Chips is a wonderful study in what teaching used to be. Except for corporal punishment, I think he was a wonderful teacher. I loved this book, and, although I read it many years ago, I still have endearing memories. It is very sad in spots, but heartwarming most of the time. Much better than Lost Horizon.

Shocking Pink

Category:	Books
Genre:	Mystery & Thrillers
Author:	erica splinder

Shocking Pink is a beautifully constructed, creative suspense story with snappy dialogue among well-developed characters. I didn't give it a five star rating because it moves too slowly at the beginning and it is often repetitive. As the novel unwound, I began to realize that the repetition was long-time romance author Erica Spindler's way of showing obsession, but I wondered if the same point could have be made more subtly.
How many stories have you read where some horrible event has been witnessed in childhood and the viewer has been forever changed? It happens here, and Spindler's novel explores the impact on the viewers, demonstrating how horror can become a catalyst that profoundly affects the life of the viewer.

It is summertime for 15 year olds Julie, Raven and Andie who live in Thistledown, Missouri. They discover that in an unoccupied home in a nearby neighborhood sexually deviant activities are going on between a Mr. and Mrs. X. -- so named because they are masked with black scarves, employ cuffs, ropes, etc. The teenagers investigate and that means watching every time they can. Their secret observations gradually begin to erode their friendship as each reacts differently to what they are seeing. Eventually Mrs. X is found dead, hanging from a rope in a position the kids had seen before, blindfolded by a black scarf. Her murder remains unsolved.

Julie is the daughter of a religious zealot who has psychologically abused her. From the X's she learns desire. Raven, the daughter of a physically abusive man, learns power from Mr. X. Andie, the daughter of parents who have just split up because her father found someone new, learns compassion.

Fifteen years later, the three best friends are together again in Thistledown. Julie has just returned, her third marriage broken. Raven has a very successful interior design firm. And Andie is a psychiatrist.

One of Andie's abused clients snaps and kills her husband, the mayor. Andie becomes involved in the high profile case and again meets Detective Nick Raphael who had investigated Mrs. X's murder. As a result of the publicity, she starts seeing a new patient, David Sadler.

David, talk, dark, handsome and rich has just returned to Thistledown having spent the last decade in St. Louis. He is seeking treatment for sexually deviant behavior. At the same time Julie starts dating David, Raven is employed to decorate the new homes his firm is building and Andie and Nick are attracted to each other.

Suddenly, all three receive newspaper clippings of the 15 year old murder. Then a black silk scarf appears on Andie's bed, and other acts occur that show someone is watching and taunting them.

To reveal any more of the plot than I have would do a great disservice to author Erica Spindler. Her ingenious twists and turns in a story that features friendship, obsession, sexually deviant behavior and murder will be long remembered by this reviewer.