Sooner or later everyone will meet their Maker. It’s inevitable and a fact that 1 out of 1 person dies. But my question today is, “How do you look at death?” Do you look at death with fear because you’re not sure if you’ll go to heaven? Do you look at death with trepidation over the unknown? Or do you look at death with expectation because you know the best is yet to come?

Perhaps you’ve heard the story about the woman diagnosed with a terminal illness. The doctors told her she only had a few months to live. She was a Christian, so she started setting her affairs in order. She visited her pastor and even talked to him about the songs and scriptures she wanted at her funeral. Then she said, “Pastor, I do have one unusual request to make. It’s very important to me, but I want to be buried with a fork in my hand.” The pastor was surprised, but he didn’t argue. He said, “Certainly, but I’m a little puzzled by your request.”

She said, “I don’t blame you. But here’s why I want to have a fork in my hand in the casket. Whenever I’ve had dinner in someone’s home or at church, the hostess always clears away the dishes from the main course. Sometimes she would lean over to me and say, ‘Keep your fork.’ That was my favorite part because I knew something better was coming, like velvety chocolate cake or deep dish apple pie. So I just want people to see me in my casket with a fork in my hand, and I want them to wonder, ‘What’s with the fork?’ And I want you to tell them ‘Keep your fork. It means the best is yet to come.’”

Right now, we’re living in-tents. But don’t despair, even if your tent is getting a little shabby. Hang on to your fork, because through Christ Jesus the best is yet to come!

“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

2 Corinthians 5:1