Not Lost But Home

Not Lost but Home

Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi once said, “Football is like life. It requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and respect for authority.”

There is a lot of wisdom in his words. Playing any sport at a high level is hard. But life is even harder. The sufferings and hardships of this life don’t distinguish between rich or poor, famous or common, white or black. NBA coach Monty Williams lost his wife, Ingrid, suddenly and prematurely when she was killed in a head-on collision. Former NFL quarterback Randall Cunningham lost his son Christian in a drowning. Coach Bobby Bowden has had to bury two grandsons and a son-in-law. Green Bay Packers quarterback and, later, coach Bart Starr also lost a son.

When Coach Williams eulogized his wife, he said, “This is hard for my family.” Then Coach Williams spoke with hope. He finished his thought and said, “But it will work out.”

We often say we have lost a person when he or she dies. But Coach Williams would probably challenge the use of the word lost. When he gave that amazing eulogy, he boldly said, “My wife is in heaven. . . . My wife is where we all need to be, and I am envious of that. . . . We didn’t lose her. When you lose something, you can’t find it. I know exactly where my wife is.” To that I say amen. The truth of the matter is that Ingrid Williams is more alive today than she has ever been. The Scripture declares the hope of our salvation: “Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8).

You see, when someone who knows Christ dies, he or she isn’t lost. That person has gone home. We can be confident that if we are saved by Christ, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:8