Mortality

By Douglas V. Gibbs

I recognize my own mortality.  On July 1, 1985 I had an automobile accident that nearly killed me.  I was in a deep coma for a week and a half, and was "lights out and nobody home" for a couple months after that.  I incurred a left-temporal fracture that caused problems with my intellect, memory, and basic functioning.  I had to learn to walk all over again, and for many years suffered from post-traumatic epilepsy.  This does not even include my damaged knee, the loss of most of my hearing in my left ear, the tinnitus, and the chronic joint pain.

As much as I understand my mortality, life has been throwing quite a few reminders at me, as of late.

In life, my three closest friends in the last year have been my buddy Rich, who died in an auto accident last November, Paul Young, who suffered a heart attack earlier this year, and Ignacio.

Nacho and I have been friends since the seventies (middle school).  He has been a dear friend, like a brother to me, and a person I can call anytime to talk to about just about anything.  He has Multiple Myeloma, and the cancer is at stage 3.  The chemo-therapy recently caused him to lose all of his hair (it is fighting to grow back in), and he often finds himself sick as a result of the low white blood cell count from the numerous procedures in place to extend his life.  I pray for him constantly, and I wish I could spend more time with him.  When I am around Nacho, I find that I don't know what to say.  As an optimistic person in general, I try to be an optimistic around him, telling him the other day that at 47, we are almost half a century old - and only half way to the finish line.  He grinned, but it was a pained one.

Like me, Nacho is a Christian, and we are not worried where we will wind up after we leave this world.  As I like to say, "It is not death, it is just a change of location."

Still, life on Earth is fragile, yet an important part of our existence.  We have to do our best as Christians to share the good news of Christ, and be with each other in times of need. . . and in times of peace.  We are in this together, and we need to be fellowshipping together.  After all, in this world, we are mere mortals.

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