The Truth About Dying

As an officer at the scene of accidents, suicides and homicides, I would busy myself with the tasks of the investigation. I would not, nor could not, allow myself to become emotionally involved at a time when my mental processes had to be sharp to perform my duties as a professional police officer. However, in quieter times I would think about the person. I wondered what the person may have been thinking about and experiencing mentally as life slipped from them.

I often wondered just exactly what I was touching as I had examined the body, or assisted in the removal of the corpse from the scene.  Was there anything there beside flesh and blood?

A very unpleasant duty of law enforcement is making death notifications. Even as I gained experience and became older in years, the task of notifying parents, spouses, and even children, of the death of a loved one never became easier.

Over the years I searched for answers to all these questions about death, but I found none that truly satisfied my hunger. As importantly, I found nothing that I could use to comfort those who asked me these same questions.

After leaving law enforcement and entering the ministry, I again found myself in similar situations. I was in the position of being in the presence of the dead or dying, and the loved ones they left behind. Just as people looked to me as a Police Officer for answers, they too looked to me as a Pastor for answers.