Having a baby for new parents is an exciting and terrifying thing. So many variables! So much possible to go wrong! A baby being knit together in their mother's womb (Ps 139:13) is an assurance for Christian parents, for no matter what happens, God does not make mistakes.
Having a baby is also a kind of ordinary miracle. It happens ALL THE TIME, and has been happening for millennium...in the African bush, in the Siberian tundra, in high tech hospitals and in dirt floored huts SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME. Having babies is the most fundamental and natural thing in the world. And yet new life is always a kind of miracle in its own right. We always marvel when a baby is born. And yet, it's the most ordinary thing in the world as well.
The older I get, the more I see life and all things come full circle. "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither," as Job says (Job 1:21). We are born into the world helpless and, and many of us prepare to leave the world equally dependent on others for help.
What I have trouble processing sometimes is that people are caught off guard by death. I think about it all. the. time. (death that is). "What man can live and never see death?" (Ps 89:48). I'm almost more confounded by those who seek to put all their stock in their material possessions or accomplishments, because death is the great equalizer--none of it means anything in the shadow of the judgement throne. I have trouble understanding how people can live as if they are not going to die. Granted it's not an easy thing to think about. But still, as Christians at least, we have great assurance in the hope of salvation and the grace of peace (hopefully) at our final hour. Memento Mori.
You would think for the fact that it is coming for you, though we "know not the hour," we would be better prepared. But most people are not. It is hard to process. Maybe this is because death was introduced into the world because of sin. It wasn't supposed to be here. We marvel at new life, but are confounded by the harshness of death. It is not always beautiful, but cold and exacting, sometimes merciless and uncompromising.
It strikes me too that it is our parents who give us life, but as we age and they do too, things flip and we are often the ones caring for them. Babies are born every day, and people die every day too, and the world keeps going on. But for those whom it affects, the reality of it can be jarring, emotional, and deeply personal. We are not at the point, but it appears to be on the horizon with my father in law. I sometimes feel like an outsider among my wife's family, unsure of my role. If anything, I pray, I can minister to his spiritual needs and make the necessary arrangements in that sphere from the sidelines. It is so often neglected among everything else, and often forgotten until it is too late.
My wife "lives the Fourth (Commandment)” in a way that I am convinced is leading to her sanctification. It is not easy. My father-in-law's health has been precarious for decades, and that fact that he is now in his mid-eighties is no small miracle of modern medicine combined with an indwelling survival instinct born of his poor childhood growing up in a third world country. My wife's selfless concern and care for him is inspiring and humbling.
But we fear his time with us is coming close to an end. Only time will tell how many days or weeks we have with him, but at least he is hopefully coming home from the hospital today so he can be surrounded by his family and those who care about him. We have arranged for a priest to administer last rites, and continue to pray for God's grace to guide him in these hours we have with him. As a Christian, my confidence is in God's judgement and mercy; because we meditate so often (or should, at least) on the nature of death, it is not a foreigner for us. An enemy, yes, but one whom Christ has conquered, "conquering death by death." And so, though one may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, "we shall fear no evil" (Ps 23:4).
My father in law wrote his autobiography "Beating the Odds" around the same time my wife and I were married. I read it in amazement, the life he has lived and recounted in such detail--growing up in poverty in the Philippines, foraging for snails and coconuts while obtaining a scholarship to the University of the Philippines and graduating top of his class for medical school, immigrating to the United States and starting a practice in Gastroenterology. He was generous, with true concern for his patients, many whose debts he forgave. He supported others abroad in his home country as well. He has established an admirable legacy for years to come.
I'd solicit your prayers for his state, that the good Lord will mercifully manifest Himself to my father in law and prepare his heart well; that my wife may be Christ to him, and a witness to others in caring for him. She will need prayers as well for the coming days. We don't know how long we have with him at this point, as there's nothing much more doctors can do for his condition. As Christians, my wife and I have the assurance of peace in the midst of death, and we pray for that grace and mercy to extend to him as well. In matters of life and death, the Lord Christ is sovereign. Though He slay us, we will trust Him still! (Job 13:15)
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