Dying Well

Last weekend I attended the GodBlogCon and while I was there I met a woman who was giving out CD's of Pastor Chuck Obremski's sermons.  The cool thing was I had just heard about Pastor Chuck only two days prior when I attended the Mayor's prayer breakfast in the city I live in, and the speaker, Angel's player Tim Salmon shared his testimony and about this guy named Chuck who had impacted his life.

Well, my second day at the conference this lady handed me these CD's of the very same Chuck!  So I thought obviously I should listen to a few of these CD's to see what it was the Lord was trying to tell me.

In a nutshell, let me just say that Pastor Chuck was dying of cancer and the Lord used him in a mighty way to share the gospel with his church, the ball teams he chaplained for and now even me since I was handed his CD's.  In fact, you can listen to all of his sermons online here, if you're interested.

This morning I listened to one of his sermons on dying well and I was struck as I was listening to him talk about dying as our last act - that being how people will remember us - and how the persecuted saints we think about, write about and pray for daily - die.

I realized that when the persecuted saints I'm reading about are killed that is exactly what is so inspiring about them.  They die well.   They die well because often when given a chance to recant or deny their faith in Jesus Christ, they don't.  Even when they are being tortured and beaten, and treated in ways that no human should have to endure, these saints die well.

Pastor Chuck said that the way we die is what people will remember the most about us.  I think he's right.  So...how do you plan on dying?