"We have to live our lives like eternity will come in the next moment". Rachel Joy Scott (Columbine)

I have this written in my Bible journal on the front page. Rachel was the first person shot and killed at Columbine High School. Our countries worst shooting at any school. One just never knows when their time will come. I think about this every so often~especially after the passing of some close loved ones over the years. My sister n law, Denise, especially. Her death came sudden. Carol, Kyle and I were at the cabin when we received the news that something was wrong. Doctors at the time thought they could save Denise but as the next 24 hours unfolded - so did the life story of Denise. What a way to finish the story of such a wonderful and loving person. We all have a story - we live our lives and live out our story each and every day. Does your story end with a good ending? Will people know what you lived for and what your passion in life was? Did life live through you or did you just barely hang on?

The last 3 years now since following Jesus, I feel more alive than I have ever felt before. The things that I once thought were important are no longer that important. The things I thought I would never do - I am now doing because of Jesus. Rachel Joy Scott was a teenager and she lived her life with a higher purpose. Through her life and even through her death, God received the glory. Here is a little of her story:

Throughout her life Rachel was an incredibly spiritual person who often wrote to God in her diaries about wanting to "reach the unreached". She begged Him for the chance to show others the way, to let her life have some purpose in spreading His word. In 1998 she drew a collage of images that included a rose growing up out of a columbine, with several dark drops spiralling it (you can see this picture on the video Untold Stories Of Columbine). On the morning of the shootings, she doodled a reprise of the picture: a pair of eyes crying 13 teardrops onto that same rose - the same number of victims the shooters would kill during the massacre just hours later. Rachel had always been close with her brother Craig (who had been in the library during the shootings and miraculously survived uninjured despite being next to Isaiah Shoels and Matt Kechter were shot and killed) but had experienced difficulty connecting with her father. That last week before her death, Rachel and her dad had a long and bonding discussion, something that left both of them feeling incredibly happy. For Darrell that moment would later give him comfort when dealing with Rachel's death.

God knows the exact moment when our time will come on this earth. Not a moment before or a moment later. Are you making the most of this time? Are you reaching out to others and sharing the life changing love and grace of Jesus? Even through death, God uses people, He has already written the story. The days ahead for the family of Natasha Richardson is going to be hard. I pray Natasha knew Jesus ... and that God will use her story to reach others. Those left behind will experience pain like they have never felt. But for some of them, it might be a life changing pain. Nothing is wasted through the life that Jesus gave us. So my question this morning is - Are you ready? Eternity may be in the next moment......

Lonnie~