We happened to pass through D Street during what is known to be the day of the departed (Nov. 2), but in another intersection that day was a more pressing issue to talk about. As I was on D street trying to get a footage of this bird, a woman who was high on drugs was having a loud conversation with herself which made this Cedar Waxwing fly away.
She did not seem to be right in her head and since I was just trying to take some pictures, thoughts of her just suddenly charging towards me rushed through my head. My husband was parked some feet away, but… I could have ended up like that woman if God didn’t intervene. I don’t remember the exact day I died to self, only that it happened during Fall of 2001—it was definitely days to a few weeks after 9/11—which makes this my 20th year anniversary in committing my life to Jesus Christ.
If I went back to that specific point, I could probably be one of the first ones to get in line for the hocus poke. I was one who feared death and hell. Though I lived a life fit for that dreaded place, the fear of the unknown would come to haunt me at night. That was what life in D Street (Matthew 7:13b) was for me before I decided to take permanent residency on ‘C’ Street (Isaiah 35:8, John 14:6).
“Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”
Hebrews 2:14-15
and free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives –
When you become a new creation, the fear of death loses its power. Fear of the unknown only remains when the soul has no certainty on its destination. Death is like closing your eyes to sleep. As Jesus described the condition of Jairus’ daughter and Lazarus, their physical bodies were asleep (Mark 5:38-43, John 11:11-14). Since Jesus Christ is the resurrection (John 11:25), to the believer, the physical body sleeps even as it becomes one with the ground (1 Thessalonians 4:15), while the soul continues to exist in its eternal state.
God gives chances to every person to intersect at Church St.,
“And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.”
Mark 13:10
No person ends up on D (death) Street, especially in our day and age without having been given the chance to hear of the gospel.
“For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse.”
Romans 1:19-20
“Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.”
John 5:24