I met Rick only once. He attended my niece’s wedding with his brother John, a family friend. Rick arrived in a wheelchair. He had become a paraplegic after an accident in his late teens. He went on to graduate from college and became a professional. He was in his fifties when I met him.

Fast forward to a decade later. We learned that Rick had contracted a terminal illness. John was his only surviving family member and also Rick’s caretaker. John told us that Rick had requested that he be kept alive as long as possible or until his money ran out. Although Rick was wracked with pain, he continued to fight death. John did what he could to fulfill Rick’s wishes. We later learned that Rick was an atheist who believed there was no afterlife. I admit that Rick’s manner of death was shocking to me.

Not long afterwards, my husband David looked in the mirror one morning and heard a distinct Voice ask him, “What’s going to happen to you when you die?’ It was a life-changing moment and set David on a quest of amazing significance. Although he had been raised in a Lutheran home, he had left the church after disappointment with its members and religious dogma. During those thirty years, he had journeyed through studies in Buddhism, Hinduism, and even dabbled in some New Age philosophies. None felt right to him. After hearing the Voice, David decided to investigate Jesus again. In the process, he realized that he needed to separate Jesus from religion. He also found a Christian mentor who helped him answer many of his questions.

Today David is confident in his faith in Jesus. He no longer fears death because Jesus offers eternal life to those who believe in Him. It is His promise. Jesus said, “For God so loved the word that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

This post is a tale of two men with vastly different views on the end of life. Do you have confidence knowing what will happen to you after you die?

I pray that you, too, will investigate Jesus throughly. If you would like more information about death and eternal life, please feel free to contact me. To get you started, here’s a short video to watch: If You Die Today

I look forward to hearing from you. Until then, may God richly bless you.

“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18