Another Bush has died.

Spring has finally appeared in the Dordogne. This means that work on the inside of the house will wind down, and work in the garden will have to increase (where are people like my cousin-in-law name-sake, when I need them?)!! Lack of water will, of course, ensure the death of any bush, or any other plant - although I have also discovered that over-watering brings its own problems!

However, the Bush in the heading was not a plant, but a human being - Barbara Bush, wife of one President of the USA and mother of another. She has been described as "the no-nonsense first lady who ran the family that ran the country." (Newsweek), and the current POTUS and FLOTUS noted that "she will be long remembered for her strong devotion to country and family."

During the illness that resulted in her death, the Washington Post published an insightful story about Barbara Bush and her family that may help to explain her remarkable character. The daughter of a New York publishing executive, she met her future husband in 1941 at a country club dance in Greenwich, Connecticut. She was sixteen years old. They became engaged in the summer of 1943 and were married in 1945. Their first son, George Walker Bush, was born on July 6, 1946, as his father was completing his studies at Yale. Two years later, they moved to Odessa, a town in West Texas. They were transferred briefly to California before moving to Midland, where their family settled into the oil business. 

In 1953, their three-year-old daughter, Robin, fell ill with leukemia. Eight months later, she died. Barbara Bush was twenty-eight. The tragedy turned her hair white and has marked her family for the rest of their lives. She later explained what sustained her through the worst pain a mother can know: “We believed in God and that made an enormous difference in our lives then and now.” She also said, “Because of Robin, George and I love every living human more.”

Her life priorities – faith, family, service – have inspired millions since. But she is dead!

Earlier, on my Facebook page, a nursing friend had posted a video of a gentleman named Tom who, we learn, "... has his own internal defibrillator, which thankfully saves his life." The gentleman had experienced a heart attack, but this ingenious implant ensured that he lives to see another day. One day, however, the internal defibrillator will not be sufficient. One day, sadly, Tom also will die!

Two people - one known to millions; the other known to few. But, as people used to say, "Death is no respecter of persons"! Rich, or poor; tall, or short; black, or white; male, or female; IQ of 150, or IQ of 50; whoever you are, whatever you are; you cannot escape physical death. It is an incontrovertible statistic - 100% of people die!

Death seems to be frequent topic on this blog at this time. Perhaps it is as my own days advance, and I am acutely conscious that I have much less time on this earth. At the end, I am assured that there is a judgment! "... it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment, ..." (Heb.9:27). The verdict will not be based on my own (few!) 'good works', but solely, and fully, on my relationship with Jesus, the Christ, and my acceptance of His sacrificial death at Calvary. If I am in Him, and He is in me, then I am already acquitted. If not, then my eternal destiny is equally fixed - but it is not in His presence!

How do you feel about your certain death? It is, of course, in our contemporary, 'progressive', sexually permissive, politically 'correct', culture, something about which we tend not to speak. But that is what may be termed the "ostrich syndrome". "If I don't see you, you aren't there"! That, is a dangerous, as well as a foolish attitude to take!

I pray for the Bush family in their bereavement. I trust that Tom will have a few more years to enjoy life. But I also pray that many of those who read this blog will ensure that, when their own time comes, they are ready! Further information in some of the links below, or by contacting me at the e-mail address above. It is not my primary e-mail address, so I don't check it every day. However, be assured that, as soon as I read your e-mail, you will receive a response.