We should not wait until some medical emergency or tragedy hits us before we start taking God and our relationship with him seriously. We need to live a life of service here on earth, but always with a view to eternity. Too many folks simply think in these terms: “Life is short, better enjoy it.” Instead, we should concentrate on this reality: “Eternity is long, better prepare for it.”

Today in Australia and New Zealand we are commemorating Anzac Day. For those not in the know, it is a national day of remembrance in recognition of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps soldiers who landed at Gallipoli in Turkey during WWI 110 years ago today.

What was hoped to be a quick operation turned into an 8-month stalemate, resulting in more than 56,000 Allied deaths. Of those were 8700 Australians and 2700 from New Zealand. For more information about this battle, and the significance of what followed from it, please check out this piece.

Here I want to highlight one aspect of this—that so many young men died back then—and tie it into two things that I was involved in this week. As to those 11,000+ ANZACs who never made it back home alive, think of what that meant for family and friends.

Presumably most of these brave young men who went overseas to fight knew there was a real risk involved. There would have been long and emotional goodbyes to loved ones and family members. All would have hoped to return alive, but some may have taken more steps than others to properly prepare, just in case they did not make it.

They would have sought to get their house in order in various ways: having wills made out, last instructions or words of comfort to others, and so on. When you realise that you might not be coming back, that really steadies the mind and hopefully helps to prepare you for eternity.

The two personal things I want to bring into this discussion are the following. One was simply a biblical passage I came upon in my daily reading a few days ago. In 2 Kings 20:1 we find these words:

In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’”

Those familiar with the story will know that the King wept and prayed earnestly to God. The result of this is found in verses 4-7:

And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.” And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”

This of course was an act of God’s grace and kindness, but it is not the experience of most folks. When a doctor informs us of a terminal illness, we too pray like mad and cry out to God. But not everyone is healed, not everyone is delivered. So when you know that your days may well be few, you also need to ‘set your house in order’. You take steps to prepare for the next life.

The second thing that happened to me earlier this week was a medical issue. Without going into too much detail, something rather alarming happened. I knew it was more than likely serious enough that I needed to at least call and make an appointment to see a doctor.

But given that both last weekend and this weekend were long weekends (Easter and ANZAC day), I was told that no doctors were available to see me until next Monday, a full six days away! Yikes, so then I thought I better take myself to an emergency room at a nearby hospital.

However, I waited a bit—perhaps unwisely—to see if the situation would turn a corner. And sure enough, after some five hours, things seemed to go back to normal. I will still see the doctor of course on Monday. I did talk to one son who has a medical background, and he too thought I might need to get this checked out soon.

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