I just signed a form designating whether I want my organs to be donated if I die, and whether or not I want my life to be sustained if I am in a coma. While it is true that I could get a car accident today in my hometown and wind up in such a state with no legal documentation of my wishes, signing these papers before heading off to travel the world for a year is a little but daunting. And I don't think my Dad will be too pleased to help me sign this paperwork.
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I have thought about what I am going to do with all my things when I am gone.
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I have thought about giving my car, my fish, and other beloved possessions in people's care while I am gone
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I have thought about preparing something in advance for my family member's birthdays since I will not be around to see them celebrate.
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I have thought about spending special time with each of my nieces and nephews before I leave.
Now, to be fair, Adventures in missions has taken over 80,000 people into the mission field since 1989, and I'm pretty sure all of them have come back.
But still, it feels like I am dying. And maybe it should.
After all, doesn't Jesus tell us we must die to ourselves in order to live? And Paul says we are crucified in Christ.
Matthew 16:24-26
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
John 12:24-25
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Romans 6:2-7
We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,that we should no longer be slaves to sin- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
