If there is any single thing we can be sure of, it is the inevitability of our ultimate death. The following is taken from the book – Finding Faith in a Logical World.

Perhaps it is some instinctive knowledge that our spiritual being is more than what we see in the mirror each morning. So, we find ourselves reaching out for confirmation of existence beyond physical death. That is certainly one of the strongest incentives to believe in God and a spiritual realm. Yet, strangely, many of us accept our own mortality more easily than we accept the death of others.

By combining our faith with logic, we can conclude that “death” is a poor choice of words. Perhaps “transition,”would be a better, more appropriate choice. If we can re-align our thinking, redefine that passing we call death, we can more easily accept the absence as a temporary situation.

If we apply our logic to the evidence that we exist as spiritual beings temporarily occupying a human form, we can appreciate that our human form is like living in a room with dirty windows. Bombarded with sights, sounds and sensations that prevent us from experiencing what lies outside that room, we struggle to see what lies beyond those walls. The constant “noise” of our five senses, and the distractions of our human existence, act as interference in our efforts to communicate with the spiritual realm and the universal power we call God. The transition we label as “death” is at last breaking free of those restraints. Freed of the constraints of the human form, we are able to enjoy the beauty and wonder of all of creation.

If we truly love those who transition before us, if we are truly unselfish, then we should be able to rejoice in that transition, recognizing that our own pain of grief is a small price to pay compared to the glory of freedom our loved one enjoys in release from human existence.

Finally, the unspoken question that plagues many of us when we lose a loved one – did that person have the faith that would gain them entry into God’s presence?

While none or few of us have the direct experience at that moment when the transition occurs between life and death, we have a record of God’s actions over the centuries. God is all about second chances. The history of the Old Testament shows God giving his people a second chance again and again. The New Testament is the story of the ultimate second chance.

Is it possible that at that final moment of life, the departing spirit is given one final chance to embrace Christ? I find hope in that possibility.