"I'm swine flu serious"

You know something is a big deal when 1.) your Mom sends you an email chain entitled "Breaking News- Celebrity Swine Flu Fatality", that includes a picture of a lifeless, Kermit the Frog laying amidst a muddy pig pen, and a one line text in blue Courier font reading "And we all know who gave it to him" and 2.) a random dude at one of the classiest, most fun, low-key, entertaining, and delicious weddings I've been to in a while, decides to crack a joke and show his commitment to getting drinks after the open bar closed by exclaiming "I'm swine flu serious! I've got everyone's drinks covered". Now I realize, this topic is a bit stale, and that the whole swine flu scare was so 2 months ago, but let's travel back in time to our state of mind when we first heard about swine flu. For me, I remember I was on gchat sometime in April, and my friend sent me a news link about people in Mexico dying from "swine flu" and how it could very easily spread to the U.S. if proper precautions weren't taken. I kind of forgot about it until a few days later when the U.S. declared a public health emergency over swine flu after there were 20 cases diagnosed in the U.S.. Shortly after this, travelers were shown on TV carrying face masks on their business/personal trips to Mexico, and stories such as "Only pig in Afghanistan locked up... to protect country from swine flu " made headline news. For a while people panicked, myself included, and I will admit that I fell prey to the http://www.doihaveswineflu.org/website whose name implied a self-assured way to detect if you had symptoms of swine flu. I remember my mind momentarily wandered to the "what if" mentality. What if it were to become a pandemic, what if it were to kill massive amounts of people, and I was one of those people?

I thought to myself, well of course it would really stink to die and miss out on all the things that life has to offer between the age of 26-78 such as marriage, kids, mastering drums on rock band, grandchildren, playing bingo, etc. And although it would be really sad to die, I am not afraid of death. If I was to die in the next 5 minutes, the next 5 days, or the next 5 years, I am 100% certain that I will be in heaven with the God of this universe because I have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal lord and savior. And what's even cooler and reassuring is that I can't under any circumstance lose my salvation. In essence, I have eternal security. Let's briefly look at the Bible (i.e. word of God) and go straight into the truth and the amazing promises that are given to believers regarding their eternal security. Note, when I say 'believers' I am referring to Christians- i.e. someone who has, by faith, received and fully trusted in Jesus Christ as the only Savior (John 3:16, Acts 16:31, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 5:1). Once saved, always saved. Here's why:

1.) Christ died once for ALL sins (past, present, future). You can't do anything to screw up your salvation because let's be real here people. God is omniscient . He knows about the sins you are going to commit 10 minutes from now, and 10 years from now. That is why God's grace is so AMAZING. God, being the all knowing genius that he is, knows our thoughts before we speak them (Psalm 139:2-4), knows all the hairs on our head (Matthew 10:30) , and knows every darn tuten bad thing we will ever do, yet is choosing to love us in spite of ourselves. He loved us so much he sent Christ to die, once, for all sins (Romans 5:6-8, Romans 6:10, 1 Peter 3:18) Wow, that is really nice of him!

2.) Nothing can separate us from Christ's love
Romans 8:38-39 "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

John 10:28-29 "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand."

3.) God keeps our salvation in a safe place for us. You can't lose something you aren't holding. Yes, I have lost countless cell phones, wallets, and receipts in my day, but thank God I am not in charge of holding on to my salvation.

1 Peter 1:3-5 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time."

4.) The Holy Spirit seals us. God gives the Holy Spirit to every believer when he/she gets saved as a down payment of His promise to take us to heaven and give us our inheritance

Ephesians 1:12-14 "in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.

2 Corinthians 1:22 "set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come"

And that, my friend(s), is why I am able to go to bed every night at peace, and not fear death.