We all know that ‘a life’ is a terrible thing to waste. People struggle to become more efficient and effective. They don’t want to waste their time or money.

No one likes to think of the years of the years they’ve wasted. They even have regrets about the hours they’ve wasted in a week. Many laboriously try to cut out the waste in their spending habits. They try to economize in every way possible.

Why do you think thrift stores and garage sales abound in our nation? Nobody likes to see a good thing go to waste. Yes, our lives are valuable assets but they can’t just go on forever and ever. And for that reason, people search diligently for their purpose and significance on the earth. They know they have only a few short years in which to make their mark and accomplish their goals.

So, what happens when a life is cut short? How do we feel when others have not fulfilled their greatest potential before departing this world? How do we react when ‘our expectations’ for them are short-circuited? Disappointment can become a devastating burden if it is not handled wisely.

There is no ‘sin’ in grieving over a loss, whether it’s the loss of an arm or the loss of a loved one. Death is a fact of life.

Eventually we must all face death for ourselves, but we must also deal with the effects on our lives when others die.

The reason I’m even talking about this topic is because my brother was accidentally killed on Thanksgiving day. People die on Thanksgiving day every year, but none of those deaths affected me. Thousands of people have died in the past ten days – but this is the only one that shakes me up and makes me think. A person’s death usually impacts only the lives of those who were closest to them. Well, my brother’s death is quickly becoming a catalyst for change in my life.

I guess we ought to give my brother a name. His name is Jacob, but we all called him Jake. It was Jake’s son who called with the bad news. As soon as I hung up the phone I felt the overpowering sense of helplessness. There was nothing I could do to change the situation. I could not reverse what happened. I knew I had to quickly accept the reality of this undesirable event.

Somewhere along the way, the Serenity Prayer came before me. The first line says, “Lord, help me accept the things I cannot change.” I knew I couldn’t go into ‘denial’ and there would be no purpose in ‘bargaining with God’ for a miracle. The deed was done. The life was gone. The loss was great.

The details of that loss were destined to come to me in bits and pieces over the next few hours and days. I knew that! I had already been through this when my 17 year old son drowned. I knew what was coming and I didn’t like it, but experience is a good teacher. I immediately rejected bad reactions which had no redeeming value in them and then jump-started the process of good reactions which I knew would make this whole ‘bad experience’ worthwhile.

As soon as I hung up the phone, I began talking to the One who holds the power of death and life in His hands. I prayed, “God, I ask you to ‘begin now’ to create a mountain of good out of this molehill of misery.” I thought of all kinds of things He could do to take that which others would call ‘tragedy’ and turn it into ‘triumph’! Those ideas turned into requests. Since then I’ve continued to ask for many constructive results to come out of this temporary loss.

The one beautiful thing about being a ‘child of God’ is that we can learn to become like our Father! We can come up with our own creative ways of our turning our losses into profits. We can wisely minimize the effects of the bad. We can creatively maximize the good that is to come from unwanted situations. This is our heritage. This is one of the bonus blessings of believing in Christ. This is but one of the rewards we have for laying down our lives for His sake.

All of the pain and suffering we have endured in the process of confessing our sins and laying them down is nothing in comparison with the potential that is invested in us by the eternal Creator – the maker of heaven and earth! Any sacrifice or loss that we’ve sustained in order to live a right life, pales into insignificance in the light of all that the Almighty is willing to do for us in answer to our prayers.

Every twinge of sorrow that touches my mind is now a trigger that makes me ‘trigger happy’. When I think of what Jake can’t do – I think of what God can do! And I begin asking and asking and asking. By the time I’m finished with my constructive prayer list, my heart is leaping with expectations of the good that is to come. You see, it was Jake who died and not God! Jake had a lot of resources and did a lot of limited good in the earth, but there is no end to the unlimited good that God can do with His own immeasurable resources.

Shall I say it again?

And my life is so securely wrapped up in God that everything I am and have, belongs to Him. Everything He is and has is made available to me.

It is nothing for God

to create a living memorial

for any of the little ones

who believe in Him.

If I died right now, my prayers would be answered after I’m gone and would continue to produce and reproduce good in the earth for a long, long time to come! Count on it!

Am I trying to ‘toot my own trumpet’? Nope. I’m just using my experiences to influence hundreds and even thousands of others to think about death differently than they’ve ever thought of it before! I’m challenging them to hang onto an optimistic seed of hope and encouraging them to plant it and water it until it becomes a ‘tree of life’ for many.

Our heavenly Father didn’t waste the death of His own Son. What makes us think He will waste anything we put into His hands? If we merely ‘give Him’ the hurtful and undesirable things of life, He can turn them into good in some way or other. He has more ideas of how to do that than we could ever think of. Dare to ‘see yourself’ putting a bad circumstance in the hand of God, then picture four angels coming out with a huge sign that says, “Genius at work – do not disturb!”

Keep seeing that sign and know that God is smarter than any genius that ever lived. Keep seeing the sign and let it remind you to put all your trust in Him. No matter how long you have to wait for some sort of compensation for your grief or sorrow – keep trusting. God will come through for you!

Even if the death of your loved one took place years ago, it’s not too late to create a living memorial in their memory. It’s not too late to recycle your grief and pain and watch while God, even now, does something good to add purpose and meaning to that death.

Someone quoted scripture to a grieving mother. That scripture was, “All things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose.” The mother wailed, “What good purpose could there possibly be in this terrible thing.” I wasn’t asked to contribute to the conversation, but I commented, “There doesn’t have to be a good purpose in it. God is God. He is a creator. He can create good where there is no good. He can add the good to a bad situation and thus create a good purpose after the bad thing has happened, but we have to be willing to let Him do that.”

I don’t know if she really heard what I was saying or if she even remembers what I said, but those words impacted my life and they have stayed with me ever since. But, after I spoke those words, I began to realize that I was supposed to be a child of God. I had the privilege of becoming like Him. I could choose to create good purposes out of bad situations. Since then I have practiced doing that in all kinds of circumstances and will continue to do so until I die.

For the sculptor, there is an exhilaration in taking an ugly clump of clay and turning it into an artistic masterpiece. Lightning may strike a man’s favorite tree and cause it to die. But, if he has any creative talent at all, it’s possible to turn it into a beautiful piece of furniture or create many useful items out of it. Even if he can’t do that, he can turn it over to someone who can and watch while they turn that charred, ugly stump into something worthwhile.

Whether it’s lightning or some other calamity which has snuffed the life out of your loved one, it’s never too late to redeem that loss and to create good results from it. There may be no inherent good in the situation, but it’s what we add to it that will make it valuable for others. If we add a warning, the lives of many can be spared and those families can be blessed. Their heavenly Father will see what we’ve done for them and He will reward us in His own way and time – but we will never go un-rewarded for allowing others to be blessed by our misfortune.

Many heroes have given their lives to save others. And the lives they’ve saved have often been total strangers – people they have never learned to love and care for. But, they gave of themselves unselfishly in a time of danger. We may never even see the people we help and bless by our ‘memorial gestures’ – but God sees them. He knows them and cares for them. They may never thank us personally, but God will undoubtedly show us His appreciation. And when God thanks us, we will know we have been properly thanked – and that, right royally! Never minimize the value of God’s gratitude. Jesus promised that many will be ushered into the intense joys of the Kingdom because of what they had done unto the most insignificant members of God’s creation.

Will you be one of those who chooses to pray positive prayers for hundreds of others, because of the pain you have felt and endured? Will you be numbered among those who have shared the details of their distress so that others can be warned, encouraged or comforted?

If you can’t do anything else, at least be part of creating a memorial fund to relieve the pain and suffering of others. If you don’t have what it takes to do that, will you simply give to such a fund? Let others do all the work of managing such projects.

I am committed to turning the death of my son and my brother into a Mountain of Mercy and Blessing for many. I will gladly accept and endure the molehill of misery that comes with their passing, but I will not leave it at that.

Most of my brothers and sisters were missionaries, pastors, or wives of ministers. My dad kept pressuring Jake to go into the ministry as well, but Jake knew, even from the time he was a teenager, that he was called to work. He believed God was helping him make money for the sake of others. He even named one of his companies, “Jireh Development Corporation.” Jehovah Jireh is an Old Testament name for God, which means, “God will provide.” Jake believed it was God who was providing for others through him.

When a kernel of corn falls into the ground and dies, it springs up to become a giant stalk of corn with hundreds of new kernels to take its place. Jake gave to many individuals and causes, but he did it quietly and unobtrusively. He kept a low profile and never sought recognition for his giving. Jake’s life of giving seemed to perish with him when he died. But, the law of resurrection calls for a harvest of giving far beyond anything Jake has ever known as one individual.

While I write, the wheels of harvest are being put into motion. I am in the process of establishing a Memorial Fund for Jake, called Jireh Memorials. But, this concept cannot be relegated to the memory of only one man. It has to be for many – that’s why it’s called:

“Jireh Memorials” – plural!