No guilt in life
No fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me

A few years back (slightly less than two thousand or so), a guy named Paul wrote a letter while he was in prison and said that to him, to live is Christ and to die is gain. A few thousand years and gigabytes of technological advancements later, there are many – myself included – who cannot claim to have fully grasped this concept. Instead we live for the many other ‘C’s that a thousand years and many gigabytes of technology have managed to conjure: cars, credit cards, Chanel, char kway teow…

I don’t think that Paul was a stiff, uptight guy who felt that any form of fun and enjoyment in life was a taboo, I just think he knew for a fact that compared to knowing Jesus, all of these things didn’t really matter. Sure, they’d be nice to have – he probably would have appreciated a car if he knew that donkeys weren’t exactly the fastest way to go – but life would be just as great without them.

All the things we strive for in life are always somewhere in the horizon; always things that “will come” to make our lives complete: the right guy that’s going to show up anytime now, that opening for the perfect job, that Bugatti Veyron that can’t even accelerate faster than Cristiano Ronaldo. I don’t think I have ever met someone who is completely satisfied in life, who can say that if they were to gain nothing more in life, they would still be content.

And “to die is gain”?

Well, if you thought finding someone who was satisfied with life was hard, try finding someone who looks forward to death. Paul, however, knew one more thing. He knew that he had nothing to fear in death because he was going to heaven to be with Jesus – and in fact he knew it’d be freaking alot better than anything here on earth! And odd as it may sound, I have been thinking about my own death. You know people always ask for a list of things you want to do before you die? Mine used to be filled with places to travel to, soccer matches to watch at Old Trafford, meeting Johnny Rzeznik, buying over the tomyam stall and so on, but now – even though I’d really love to do all those things – I think I can contentedly say that I desire only one thing and that is to be able to see my friends and loved ones know Jesus.

It wasn’t something easy to say, but if really only one of the boxes in my life’s wishlist is ticked, I would definitely want it to be that one. And for those of you who know how much Johnny Rzeznik and tomyam mean to me, you’d know I’m not kidding about this one.