Four months ago, we received the devastating news that my 22-year-old cousin, Wade, had died in a tragic accident.
I think back to myself at 22. I was newly married and beginning my career. Dave and I had moved into our first home and we had huge dreams. We were ambitious, full of life, and excited about a future that we now have the privilege of looking back on.
Wade never got that chance.
My heart aches most deeply for his parents and brother, who are living through a kind of grief no parent or sibling should ever have to know. For his grandparents, who are facing a loss that feels completely out of life’s natural order. For his church family and friends, and for everyone who expected to watch him grow, reach his goals, and celebrate milestones that will now never come.
Wade was so, so special.
But death has a way of making us think about more than the life that was lost. It forces us to think about eternity.
Recently, I heard a pastor talking about Jesus’ description of hell as a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12). I’ve studied these words before, but this time they stayed with me. The weeping makes me think of sorrow and regret. The gnashing of teeth, of anguish and anger.
And it made me think about where I would be without Jesus.
I have done nothing to earn eternity in heaven. I cannot earn it by being good, loving my family, serving others, going to church, or trying harder. That is what makes the gospel such good news.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Death. What our sin earns. Weeping. Gnashing of teeth.
Eternal life. What God freely gives through Jesus. Rejoicing. Worshiping. Dwelling with God forever. (Revelation 21:3–4)
And in the middle of tremendous grief… I am so thankful that Wade knew Jesus.
My hope is not that he was a good person or that he was deeply loved. My hope is Jesus, who said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). I will see my cousin again.
And that brings me, strangely enough, back to education.
Because every day, in our homes, classrooms, churches, and communities, we are investing in people. Sometimes we have no idea how much those little moments matter.
Paul wrote, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6).
Someone planted a seed of faith in Wade. Many others watered it. His parents, family, pastors, teachers, church family, and friends invested in him, prayed for him, spoke truth to him, loved him, and pointed him toward Jesus.
And I am eternally grateful they did.
As parents and teachers, we may never know which conversation plants a seed. Which Bible story takes root. Which prayer is remembered. Which act of kindness reflects Christ. Which seemingly ordinary moment God uses for something eternal.
So keep planting. Keep watering.
Love God. Love others (Matthew 22:37–39). Do it faithfully in your home, your classroom, your church, and your community.
Because the people we invest in matter. How we live matters. Eternity matters.
And when forever begins far sooner than we ever imagined, because of Jesus… death does not get the final word.
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again. — 1 Thessalonians 4:13–14
Grace in the Disarray 