Ride Death Close

I WAS RAISED on a farm with three older sisters who loved horseback riding. Every weekend they would saddle up and race down the trail. I may have only been four or five years old, but I admired the fearlessness in my older siblings, and I didn’t want to be left in the dust.

With those thoughts in mind, my first horse was no benign little pony; it was a sixteen-hand-high Appaloosa mare named Thunder.

The very first time I sat atop Thunder, she bolted and I slid off the saddle. I remember protesting loudly when Daddy tried to set me on her back again. When Thunder saw the fear in my eyes, she tossed her head and shied away. The horse obviously had the upper hand.

“You must get back up on her, Joni,” my dad said. “If you don’t, Thunder will know you are afraid of her, and she’ll never obey you!” After thinking for a moment or two about my sisters and their courage, I yielded to my father. He placed me atop my horse and stepped back. Mimicking my sisters, I slapped the reins and gave a hearty click with my tongue. I wanted my unruly horse to know I was in charge. And I was. The big mare obeyed my signal and trotted forward. From then on, we were friends. I will never forget my dad’s words of affirmation: “That ’a girl, Joni! Now you’re riding her close!”

Facing death as a believer is much the same. If we cower before its shadow, the next time it approaches will seem even more terrifying. And although dying is a fearful subject, when we face up to it, we break its power over us, like breaking a horse. Yes, death is still much larger and stronger than us, but fears of death need not control us. When we engage, examine, and talk about it—when we ride death close—we can say, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4, ESV).

The apostle Paul, who faced death again and again before his eventual execution in a Roman dungeon, described a believer’s passing as being “swallowed up by life” (2 Corinthians 5:4). In other words, when the moment finally arrived, it wasn’t death that took him at all . . . it was Life with a capital L.

GOING DEEPER . . .

As long as I’m alive in this body, there is good work for me to do. If I had to choose right now, I hardly know which I’d choose. Hard choice! The desire to break camp here and be with Christ is powerful. Some days I can think of nothing better. But most days, because of what you are going through, I am sure that it’s better for me to stick it out here. So I plan to be around awhile, companion to you as your growth and joy in this life of trusting God continues.

Philippians 1:22-25, MSG

Lord, thank You for the magnificent homecoming You have planned for me in the very instant I step out of this life. In the meantime, help me to make the very most of this day of life on earth, pointing as many people as I can toward the path of Life.