[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":80},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fpreparing-for-d-day":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fpreparing-for-d-day-surround":69},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":12,"columnName":52,"date":53,"description":18,"extension":54,"image":55,"meta":56,"minRead":57,"navigation":58,"path":59,"postType":60,"publication":61,"publicationUrl":55,"seo":62,"stem":63,"topics":64,"__hash__":68},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fpreparing-for-d-day.md","Preparing for D Day",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9,10,11],"Romans","Psalms","Ezekiel",{"type":13,"value":14,"toc":48},"minimark",[15,19,22,25,28,31,34,37,45],[16,17,18],"p",{},"I am going to die. Is that a shocking thing to say? Not really. Few predictions could be more certain. All of us have an appointment with our own D Day, the day of our death.",[16,20,21],{},"I don't know when I will die. It might be today at 2:00 in the afternoon, next year at midnight, or 40 years from now at sunrise.",[16,23,24],{},"I don't know how I will die. Maybe a car accident or cancer, maybe pneumonia or a stroke. Maybe something dramatic: rescuing a child from a burning building. More likely something so unremarkable that the guests at my funeral will simply nod and say, \"We saw it coming.\"",[16,26,27],{},"I don't know where I will die. It might be in church, which sounds like a pretty good scenario until I consider how shocking it would be for the rest of the worshipers. It might happen while I'm sitting at my desk or reading the newspaper in my favorite chair. I might die at a baseball game—an added spectacle during the seventh inning stretch. I might die quietly while asleep in my bed, while flying in an airplane above the Atlantic Ocean, or while residing in a convalescent center.",[16,29,30],{},"I don't know when, how, or where I will die, but I do know why. \"Death came to all men, because all sinned.\" \"The wages of sin is death\" (Romans 5:12, 6:23). D Day is no respecter of persons. It comes to ordinary people, but it also comes to the famous (Princess Diana), the beautiful (Farah Fawcett), the talented (Michael Jackson), the strong (Steve McNair), the religious (Ronald Reagan), the powerful (Pope John Paul), the irreligious (George Carlin), the cruel (Saddam Hussein), and the kind (Mother Teresa).",[16,32,33],{},"D Day shrinks day-to-day problems to a more manageable size. Why get so upset about our coworker's irritating habits, the newspaper's hand-wringing headlines, Wall Street's dire predictions, or the worries of labor and politics? For that matter, most of the things we quarrel about in church look insufferably petty compared to the significance of everyone's D Day.",[16,35,36],{},"Since we're going to die, shouldn't we make the most of the days we are given? Shouldn't we enjoy a tasty meal, a peaceful walk, a favorite song, a funny joke, a pleasant conversation, a loving hug, an hour of undistracted worship? And yet, D Day isn't just an excuse to \"eat, drink, and be merry.\" It also makes us ponder and pursue our purpose in life. Before we die, how can we devote more of our selves to the one who created us? How can we love the Lord more fully and serve our neighbors more graciously? Time is short. Every day counts. How can we give the Lord our best with the time we have?",[16,38,39,40,44],{},"Christ makes D Day incredibly different. In Christ we have been resurrected—given life that is eternal both in duration and in quality. In Christ sin's curse has been reversed, death's sting has been removed, and hope has been restored. Because of Christ we can boldly agree with the psalmist who said, \"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?\" (Psalm 27:1, ",[41,42,43],"em",{},"King James Version",").",[16,46,47],{},"Unless the Lord Jesus comes back first, I am going to die, and so are you. \"How should we then live?\" (Ezekiel 33:10). I think we know the answer.",{"title":49,"searchDepth":50,"depth":50,"links":51},"",2,[],"First Look","2009-10-11","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fpreparing-for-d-day","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":18},"articles\u002Fpreparing-for-d-day",[65,66,67],"Biblical Theology","Church Leadership","Spiritual Formation","Gzv1kMfkCOdB9HsGi89cEr_Qwogzy0XK7YjrIojcn8E",[70,75],{"title":71,"path":72,"stem":73,"description":74,"children":-1},"Prepared to Live, Unafraid to Die","\u002Farticles\u002Fprepared-to-live-unafraid-to-die","articles\u002Fprepared-to-live-unafraid-to-die","\"Are you ready, guys? Let's roll!\" With those words, Todd Beamer put down his phone; then he and some other brave passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 took action. Somehow they thwarted the efforts of the terrorists who were trying to steer the plane toward Washington, D.C. Many times since that tragic morning on September 11, the world has heard the story of Todd's heroic deeds. President Bush even introduced Todd's widow, Lisa, during a nationally-televised speech before a joint session of Congress. But the story most people *haven't* heard is the way Beamer's previous 32 years prepared him for that moment of high drama and self-sacrifice.",{"title":76,"path":77,"stem":78,"description":79,"children":-1},"Preparing for the Day of Death","\u002Farticles\u002Fpreparing-for-the-day-of-death","articles\u002Fpreparing-for-the-day-of-death","Death often catches its victims by surprise.",1790466172638]