Every now and then in life we must face the unexpected. I do not mean the unexpected bill or the unexpected schedule change. I mean something much more intense and surprising. It happened to me. I had not been feeling well for a while and my loving wife finally convinced me to go to the doctor. Actually, she dragged me there in my weakened condition! Going to the doctor is fairly unexpected for me, but not necessarily earthshaking! Some antibiotics, a short lecture, maybe a shot and I'd be are on my way.

Not quite!

It turned out that I was having some serious problems with my gallbladder. Before I knew it, the doctor had checked me into the hospital, scheduled an ultrasound and assigned me a surgeon. Now that was unexpected! I did not even have time to weigh the options. Of course, the option list was pretty short-have the surgery, NOW!

When experiencing the unexpected in such a rapid fashion, it is easy to get lost. You feel as if it is not even real. It is as if you are observing the process from a distance. And then, something happens to help you focus in on the eventual realities. This happened to me as I was being admitted to the hospital.

They sat us down and, very politely, started to ask me questions. I sat there. I answered. My wife corrected me. And the young lady typed it all into the computer. As this was happening, she asked me a question that brought me face-to-face with the eventual realities. She asked me if I was an organ donor. I said, "Yes," and we moved on. WAIT A MINUTE! Why did they want to know if I were an organ donor? The only organ we were dealing with here was a gallbladder and it was in bad shape­too bad to recycle. Why did they want to know if ... BOOM! Eventual reality time!

I could die! They wanted to know what to do with the leftovers if I didn't make it! Sure, the odds were in my favor, but you never know! I could die! Now, that is an eventual reality. No sense thinking about it, no sense dwelling on something that is so far away-unless, of course, it is unexpectedly brought closer.

I thought about this a lot-later. At the time I was too busy trying to survive the embarrassment of those hospital gowns, the trauma of receiving an IV and delivering a marble. Later, however, I wondered what a guy like St. Paul would say about all of this. I looked, and after some consideration, I think he would say, "So what?"

As I read the Bible, I think I was looking for sympathy-maybe a theological pat on the head. I could not find any. The best I could come up with was, "So what?" "So what if you have pain and suffering in this world?" "So what if the eventual reality of physical death is staring you in the face?" "So what if you are struggling and fearful in this world?" "So what?"

I did not find this to be very comforting until it dawned on me that the writers of Scripture, especially St. Paul, were dealing with a different eventual reality. Their eventual reality was not physical death, it was eternal life. This world, the stuff of this world, the life in this world is nothing but a journey to everlasting life in the arms of our Savior. Obviously time to refocus!

Because of Christ and His work on our behalf we have a completely different eventual reality. The eventual reality of eternal death has been changed to eternal life. Darkness is now light. Worldly collections have become as rubbish. Everything pales in comparison to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord.

This is quite a change of focus for us. It is a change of focus that is easy to lose sight of in the midst of the unexpected and the frightening. But, it is a change of focus, an eventual reality, that becomes our hope, our righteousness, our salvation. Everything else fades away!

Rev. Jeffrey H. Pulse is senior pastor of Peace Lutheran Church and School in Bremerton, WA.