Saddle up your horses. We've got a trail to blaze!

I just returned from the funeral of my nephew, who died in a tragic accident, and, once again, have been prompted to think more deeply about life and death. My nephew was a charismatic man who embraced life and lived it with joy and enthusiasm. I believe in the blessed hope, that those who are followers of Jesus go to heaven but, initially, his passing overwhelmed me with a sense of fatalism. How could someone so vibrant and full of life suddenly be dead, gone? Why? When I woke up the morning after the accident, I didn't want to get out of bed. I felt incredible heaviness and depression, and told myself life is too painful, too hard.

Each day, my husband and I read several passages from the Bible and, that day we read, "The path of the wise leads to life above; they leave the grave behind" (Proverbs 15:24). It was a reminder that my nephew, a follower of Christ, was not actually dead. He is in heaven, still alive! He is gone from this earth, for sure, but lives on. If we, too, accept the free gift of salvation and follow Christ, we will live eternally. Such hope puts a whole different perspective on the passing of a loved one.

On the day of the funeral, Steven Curtis Chapman's song "The Great Adventure" kept going through my mind and it occurred to me that the lyrics describe the life of my nephew. Afterward, I learned from my son that, when he worked with my nephew in the early 1990s, "The Great Adventure" was one of my nephew's favorite songs.

Life is a great adventure, a gift from God to be embraced with enthusiasm. The task for those of us still on this earth is not to allow grief or hardship to stop us, but to do as my nephew did: Live life to the hilt, doing our utmost to follow Christ into the glorious unknown and the exciting adventures he has planned for us.

The Great Adventure

Started out this morning in the usual way. Chasing thoughts inside my head of all I had to do today.
Another time around the circle, try to make it better than the last.
I opened up the Bible, and I read about me. Said I'd been a prisoner and God's grace had set me free.
And somewhere between the pages, it hit me like a lightning bolt.
I saw a big frontier in front of me, and I heard somebody say, "Let's go!"


(chorus)
Saddle up your horses. We've got a trail to blaze! Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace.
Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown. This is a life like no other ... this is The Great Adventure!


(bridge)
Come on, get ready for the ride of your life. Gonna leave long-faced religion in a cloud of dust behind.
And discover all the new horizons just waiting to be explored. This is what we were created for.


(chorus)
Saddle up your horses. We've got a trail to blaze! Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace.
Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown. This is a life like no other ... this is The Great Adventure!


We'll travel over, over mountains so high. We'll go through valleys below.
Still, through it all, we'll find that this is the greatest journey that the human heart will ever see.
The love of God will take us far beyond our wildest dreams.

Yeah ... O, saddle up your horses ... come on, get ready to ride!


(chorus)
Saddle up your horses. We've got a trail to blaze! Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace.
Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown. This is a life like no other ... this is The Great Adventure!

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