TOO YOUNG

The day dawned bright and sunny in Dantin, Arkansas. It was the 28th of May 1972, the day that Jane Evans had been waiting for longer than she could remember. It was graduation day at West-Central High School. And this year was Jane's year, she had finally made it. That morning her parents gave her a new car, a shiny blue Camaro, for a graduation present. Her parents were so proud of her, and she deserved it. She had worked so hard in school. She didn't quite make it to the top of her class, but she did finish fourth out of 78. At breakfast that morning, Jane thought to herself, that this day, which she had dreamed about for so long, was going to be even better than she had ever imagined.

That afternoon Jane got in her new car and drove it for the first time. She had to be at school early to help set up everything for the ceremony that night. As she drove down fourteenth street toward the school, she couldn't help but think that she must be the luckiest girl alive. She had a wonderful loving family. She had a new car. She would be graduating from high school in a few hours. And a little over two years ago she had met and fallen in love with her fiance, Robert, whom she planned to marry the following Spring. Yes, this was the happiest day of Jane Evans' young life. But as it happened May 28^th, 1972, was also the day Jane Evans died.

Just two blocks from the school, a man whose only apparent reason for living was to get drunk, ran a red light, and crashed broadside into Jane's new Camaro. She was dead long before the ambulance ever arrived. "What a waste," a passerby was heard to say, she was too young.

Later that evening, on the other side of town, Hank Thompson, who had just turned 85 in April, decided he would go to bed early that night. He had felt a little tired all day, and after seeing the news report about the tragic death of that young girl on the way to her graduation, he just didn't feel much like sitting up and watching Johnny Carson. Later that night, sometime after Jane's mother had finally managed to cry herself to sleep across town, Hank Thompson's heart, which had beat so faithfully for over 85 years, simply stopped.

Two days later the friends and family of Jane and Hank gathered at the local funeral home to pay their last respects. But there was quite an obvious difference in the mood of these two families. While both Jane and Hank were dearly loved by their families, Jane's death was so unexpected, Hank's was not. After all, he was 85. It isn't shocking when an 85 year old man's heart gives out on him. But it is shocking when such a young and bright life is snuffed out so quickly. Hank's family was having a much easier time dealing with the turn of events than was Jane's.

Occasionally some members of Jane's and Hank's families would talk to each other. And almost without fail, each conversation eventually led around to the same thing. They would begin to compare the lives of Jane and Hank. Poor Jane had never lived, they said. She would never have a husband. She would never know the joys of motherhood. She never even got to graduate from high school, something she had wanted so badly. What a shame, Jane had died way too young. But Hank, on the other hand, had lived a wonderful life. He had a loving and loyal wife for 57 years. They had raised 5 children, and had more grandchildren and great-grandchildren than they could keep track of. Hank's family was saddened by his passing to be sure, but they had no regrets about his life. They could accept his death, but Jane's family could not.

But this is not the end of our story. No more than death is the end of life. You see, there came a great day, many years later, when both Jane and Hank were resurrected from the dead. Jane, who had seemingly been cheated by life, was taken up into Heaven. Hank, on the other hand, found himself banished into outer darkness for all eternity.

About two years before her death, Jane had become a Christian. Her parents had never really been religious, but her fiancee, Robert, definitely was. Soon after they had started dating she began going to Church with him. Robert also studied the Bible with her, and it wasn't long before she was baptized.

Hank, though, had never cared much for religion. Oh, he was a good man alright. A fine man indeed by most accounts. But he had just never taken the time to get involved with religion on his own, and no one had bothered to try to talk with him about it. And it was such a shame too, because being the kind of man he was, Hank would have probably listened. But it was too late now, what's done is done.

Think about how wrong those grieving families had been many years before. Bewailing poor Jane because she had been robbed of her life so unjustly. "It wasn't fair," they had said, she had simply died too young. But they consoled themselves with the knowledge that Hank had enjoyed a long and full life. He had perhaps even gotten a little more than his share. But it was Jane who lived long enough to make preparations for eternity, not Hank. Perhaps it was Hank who died too young, after all.

Whether you are 18 or 85 life is never certain. God is the only constant we can have in our lives. Friends, now I put the question to you, "Are YOU another Hank Thompson?" Even if you live to be a hundred, will you die "too young" to meet God???