There Is No Stopper You Can Put In Death

Norway had a plan to keep death from coming to the country.

Now they knew they couldn’t stop all death but in 1349 the death they feared was the Black Death or The Plague. Bubonic plague had ravaged Europe taking over 60% of its population. However, Scandinavia was isolated enough that had been spared and Norway was determined to keep it that way.

Since the disease was transmitted by fleas that live on rats, Norway made every ship that came into its port go thru quarantine. If the ship had signs of rat or flea infestation, it was turned away; otherwise, the crew (if in good health) and supplies were allowed to disembark as planned. It might have worked except for one ship that refused to stop and be checked.

The reason? They were already dead.

A ship had left England healthy but during the journey, the disease began to take the lives of the crew, but only the crew. The creatures that brought the plague onto the ship -- the rats, fleas, etc. -- they survived. The "ghost ship" crashed into the Norway coast. The rats got out and spread the plague throughout the country. From there, the Black Death spread into Sweden and Russia, too, leading to countless more deaths.

Death cannot be contained.

Today we have gotten pretty good at keeping ourselves alive. We conquered many diseases and injuries, elongated the average lifespan, and made our world safer and more secure. Yet still, death comes for us all. We might outrun the reaper for a time but he catches us all in the end.

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned

Romans 5:12

You can’t stop death but it can be overcome. We all will face death, but to the ones whose are in Christ, death loses its sting. The resurrection of Jesus and our connection through it by baptism gives us the power to live again. We may die but we will live again

No matter how much you exercise, eat right, take your victims, avoid dangerous things, death will still catch us. Maybe we should put our effort not just in delaying it but defeating it.

Death will come, we better be ready to face it when it does.

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