A Matter of Life and Death

Even though I walk through the
[sunless] valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide],
they comfort and console me.

Psalm 23:4 AMP

We had a tough week in my city of Hobart a while back. We lost an award-winning helicopter pilot, who died in a tragic helicopter crash. The pilot owned a well-known helicopter company, and everyone drives past their distinctive blue helicopters every airport visit. You can read about the disaster here.

The things is, in our Western culture, it’s hard to talk about life and death. It’s not something we easily do. Especially, we find it difficult to talk about it with our children. I mean, why is that a good idea? Do people not understand that avoiding the topic just makes things harder to manage when it eventually happens?

While the co-pilot survived the crash, there was much public heartache for the pilot’s wife and three girls. His daughters are now starting their new life: a life minus their Dad. It’s assumed, but never spoken, that the mother of the family, al