Is Death really the enemy?

You know, we spend an awful lot of time trying to extend our lives on earth and praying for those we love to be healed so that they can be on earth longer. Our culture tells us that death is the worst thing that can happen to us. That's really easy to buy in to. I admit I often feel that death is an injustice for a child, a horrible event when my loved one is gone, something to fear for myself. But what is death? It's how we pass from this life into eternity with God. We cling to this earhtly life like it's all we've got and the most important thing of all. What if Christians turned things upside down and started looking at death differently? Death is not the worst thing that can happen- if you are in a relationship with God, that is. The worst thing that can happen to a person is to not have a relationship with God. Let's look at death as something that happens to us all, so we only have a short amount of time to do what's really important in life: live in Christ and share his truth. Death brings us into the fullness of what was always meant to be for us- what was clouded by sin in the very beginning, repaired by Jesus on the cross, and unrealized during our extremely short time on earth: living in the very presence of God. This doesn't mean we shouldn't pray for healing, or ache with loss and feelings of injustice. But we should refuse to look at death as the worst possible outcome.