Friday, August 16, 2024
Shelley and I were recently in Bellingham, Washington, and while visiting a large used-book store there, I parked several blocks away near what seems to be an art center, on whose outside wall was the biggest (by square footage) “bucket list” I have ever scene.
Actually, what you’re looking at in the photo is just a portion of what I saw. Out of view on the right is at least another equally wide stretch of this same subject matter: “Before I die I want to . . .” sentences, each followed by a solid white line on which the passerby can chalk a response.
If you look closely, you can see that the question is posed in several languages. After the Spanish edition (Antes de morir quiero . . .) someone answered in English: “Fall in love.” Other romantic responses included “Marry Brooke” and “Marry Cindy.” Another person bitterly scrawled “Leave [name indecipherable] for good.”
Other responses: “Live past 102,” “Go in a helicopter,” “Summit Mount Rainier,” “Live by the ocean,” “Finish my car,” and even “Make the world a better place.” Perhaps most plaintively, “Know that my kids are happy.”
I was surprised and touched by how the overwhelming majority of responders took this question seriously (except maybe the person who wrote “Smoke a joint with Jerome.”) I’ve had the sad but sacred duty of officiating at many funerals and memorial services, and these are always times of sober reflection. God created our minds, but He did not program those minds to easily accept death. We were designed to go on living forever.
I think it would be important for each of us to learn or review exactly what the Bible tells us about death. You can find these surprisingly comforting verses at the link just below.