I was afraid of dying, so I became a hospice chaplain. I figured if I hung around with Death, made friends with him—at a safe distance—I’d get used to him, and he wouldn’t be so scary. So, for the past fifteen years I have had the privilege to journey with more than three thousand folks who have gone on to the other side.  

I’ve seen firsthand that no one escapes this world without experiencing pain, suffering, and death. It was a rather startling setback for me when this truth torpedoed my well-constructed life a few years ago. I had spent most of my faith-filled Christian years trying to do everything in my power to avoid pain and suffering. I’d been taught that if I prayed enough, read the Bible enough, lived a clean life, and volunteered to work in the church nursery once in a while, God would protect me from all pain and suffering. The thought that suffering could be good for me in any way wasn’t even on my radar screen. But that was before I began to learn what the dying could to teach me about living . . .