Death Is Not The End

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. - Psalm 116:15 (ESV)

"Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him." - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 (NIV)


"Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"" - John 11:25-26 (NIV)

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (NIV)

“Our cousin said that we can access the camera at the funeral and see it there,” suggested my brother. He called from thousands of miles away to share the news that our uncle, my mother’s first cousin, had passed away from pancreatic cancer. I remembered just talking with him about this disease few days earlier and I had told my brother that this kind of cancer was hard to cure. Most of the time, people diagnosed could die within a short amount of time.

He was the youngest cousin, his age equivalent to some of my older brothers. That instead of my brothers considering him as “an uncle” felt like he was more a brother and a friend to them. My other brother who grew up with him was devastated to hear the news.

I tried accessing the camera from the wake. I saw blurry images yet was able to identify some of familiar faces like a cousin and an aunt. I saw just a glimpse of his casket. Adorned with beautiful white flowers on the bottom. His huge picture with a big smile welcomed everyone paying respect. I couldn’t see his face but appeared like he was just sleeping. As the rest of his family seemed to be talking, some weeping, most with puffy eyebags perhaps from combination of lack of sleep and weeping. I knew some of his siblings must come from other parts of this world.

“I can’t believe it,” my brother added. 

“Kuya Willy is gone…” he ended as he remained silent.

As I returned the phone to its charging receiver, I knew…

How often people forget the truth. Death is not the end of this life. It’s just the beginning of a life that doesn’t end. But Jesus warns…Where do we choose to go? To the fiery end or His Kingdom? And to go to His mansion means we must believe in what Jesus had done. For there’s no other way. And that’s the painful truth…

That all of us must die here now….In order to live…

That such loss is not a loss if we surrender our lives to Jesus…

Every time I hear this song, "Broken Halelujah" by The Afters, I get encouraged no matter what's going on around me. The story behind this song:

 “Broken Hallelujah” is a tender and lyrically rich anthem about praising God in the times when we feel most broken. Inspired by wildfires in Colorado, photos from a friend of flames creeping toward his church urged The Afters to write a song that would minister in times of loss.


“There were times,” Havens recalls, “when we were in tears writing that song.  We opened the book of Job and saw a man who experienced more losses than we could ever fathom. In the midst of all that, he shaved his head and got rid of his clothes so that he had nothing left, and yet he still worshiped God. ‘Broken Hallelujah’ came out of that sense that when we’re broken, the only thing we have is our worship.”

May this song minister to you...