51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed — 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-54

Just like that we’ll be be changed. We won’t have time to prepare or get our act together.

That’s why when someone we know dies, the lives of those around them are altered just as dramatically as those who have died. It’s completely unexpected. That’s also why in some cultures funerals are life celebrations because those people are in a much better place.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the suddenness of death lately. A person spends 60 or 70 long years on this Earth, and in a second they’re gone. Just like that. Often with no warning. Those who are left must ponder the last moments spent together and all the “woulda coulda shouldas.” And the regrets, what was said or done, or what shouldn’t have been said or done.

Just like that.

As you consider these words, are there people you need to call and talk to, people who if they were to die, you’d regret not making that last phone call? I’ve got a few to make myself.