Will he or she make it? That is a question that is often heard at the bedside of someone who is terminally ill as an important date draws near on the calendar. We want to know if our loved one is going to survive until Christmas or Easter or their birthday or whatever the important date is. It was no different with Cindy. As September drew to a close and October was right around the corner we couldn’t help but wonder, “Is she going to make it to the 12th, to her birthday?” 

As I watched Cindy’s condition deteriorate I was pretty sure that she wouldn’t make it that far but I thought she would closer than she did. As I thought about that I wondered what Cindy would prefer? Would she want to be 56 or 57 when she passed away? If she could choose her day I knew that she would want to stay away from her birthday because she wouldn’t want to “ruin” that day for us. She would want her birthday to remain a happy day, a day of celebration and good cheer. 

With today being Cindy’s birthday I don’t think of her as being either 56 or 57. I think of her as being ageless, as being someone who lives in the presence of God along with all those who have also died in Christ. I have no sorrow for her because I know that she has left all the pain and sorrow of this fallen world far behind and she now resides in paradise, in the place our Savior prepared just for her. Do I miss her? More than words can describe.

But I remember a sermon that my pastor, the Rev. Charles Mueller Sr. preached one Sunday when I was home on break from my studies at the Seminary, which would have been at least 35 years ago. 

Charlie was preaching on Psalm 90:12, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”Pastor Mueller said that he thought that when it came to numbering our days that we had it all wrong. That in fact, we had it kind of backwards. Think about it for a minute, when we number our days, how do we do it? Well, in Cindy’s case we would say that she died just ten days short of her 57thbirthday, she almost made it.

Our normal way of counting our days is to count them up, to keep track of the number of years that we have lived. The goal is to see how far we can make it. The larger the number the better because when we stop counting that means that it’s over, that we’ve reached the end of the line and we aren’t going any further. 

But is that really true? Is that what the Bible tells us? Is death the end of the line? Not at all! In fact according to the Bible it’s just the beginning isn’t it? Pastor Mueller said that instead of counting up, we should be counting down. Kind of like when NASA launches a rocket or when you rush to the hospital because the water has broken and the baby is on the way. 

When we die, we run out of days here in this sinful, broken world but on the other side of the grave because Jesus died for our sins on the cross, because of that our days in eternity with Jesus have just begun. We have been born again into life eternal and how many of us can count to infinity and beyond? The gain is far greater than the loss. When we die in Christ, what have we left behind? Sin, sorrow, shame and all the hurt that we have suffered or caused anyone else, all these things are left behind. They cannot follow us through the grave. And what awaits us on the other side? Nothing but goodness and mercy and the joy of living in the presence of our Savior Jesus, Who loves us so much that He gave His life to save us. 

There is no loss, only gain. As St. Paul says, “to die is gain.” Our lives don’t really begin until God calls us home to start living life in eternity. On October 2ndCindy hit zero as her days here on earth ran out. The clock has been reset and now we start counting up. Today is her tenth day in eternity and that number is never going to stop going up. It is as King David reminds us in the 23rdPsalm, verse 6, “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

So, today in honor of Cindy’s birthday I invite everyone to join me in counting up instead of counting down as the Lord instructs us in Psalm 90:12, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

In Jesus’ name, Amen!