This is not the end...

This is not the end, it is a new beginning.

(This post dedicated to Kelsey Smith)

I felt compelled to write in response to watching a video of Kelsey Smith's memorial service. I saw that our church's pastor was giving the sermon, as this was also the Smith's church, so I decided to watch it. Watching the service moved me in many ways. In ways that I hope I will always be affected.

It truly is such a tragic story...an 18 year old girl being robbed of her dreams, her hopes, and her life. And yet, I remind myself that her life is just beginning...in heaven with her savior. It's hard not to be sad at a time like this. I didn't even know this beautiful young lady, and yet watching the family speak about her life moved me to tears over and over again.

What I know to be true is that her life on earth, though short, will be touching lives for a long, long time. Her death is not an eternal tragedy. It is a temporal tragedy. Eternal tragedies occur everyday when we choose to put earthly items, desires, insecurities, and anything above our Lord. It is so easy to live for this earth...we have nice houses, pretty yards, good friends, but they can never give us what we need - LIFE...the Lord, through Jesus, gives us this. But the Lord being so gracious also gives us CHOICE. And many days I choose to put earthly items in front of Him. Those earthly items will not go with me when I die.

Things that will go with me when I die are: my love for the Lord, my love for His people, my trust in Him, my hope in Him, and the time I spent getting to know Him more. What a blessing to know that Kelsey understood this.

A few principles I'd like to adopt in memory of Kelsey:

**Live everyday with FAITH, HOPE, and LOVE
**Life is precious, don't wait until tomorrow to tell that person what they mean to you
**Focus on what truly matters
**Boycott violent tv shows and movies (Kelsey's killer was shaped largely by these)
**LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE!

One of Kelsey's favorite scriptures:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. ~John 10:10