When it's All Been Said and Done

In the midst of turmoils surrounding him, a psalmist declares,

"God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way. And the mountains fall into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam. And the mountains quake with their surging. Be still and know that I am God... The LORD Almighty is with us; The God of Jacob is our fortress (Psalms 36:1-3; 10-11).

Scary, isn't it? The way the financial crisis in the US is unfolding, that is! All through yesterday, my wife was so worried about her insurance savings with AIA. Should she terminate the plan or not? I even received an e-mail from a professor from down under who jested that the way things are developing, he would have to work to 100 to recover his pension fund assets.

photo: scarecrow, Ohio, US (2007)

I am reminded of an e-mail a concerned student sent to us when we were still in the US last year. Attached to the e-mail were links to three video clips on youtube. In each clip, an expert was seen giving his prediction on the future of America. If I recall correctly, in one of the clips, a financial guru made a prediction that the US financial markets will go into a major catastrophy by year end (2007). He went on to say that the downfall will be worst than that experienced immediately after Sep 11. And the only event that could trigger this would be a terrorist attack on the US soil on a very very massive scale! As a result, my student was very concerned for our safety and sent us the e-mail asking us to consider leaving the US.

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The following e-mail from the concerned student came about one month into our sabbatical in the US:

Dear Sir, Is it possible for you to be back? I have a very bad feeling about you being in the States right now!! I am very afraid that these prophecies could turn true. I believe they (terrorists) are striking New York. My eyes kept on twitching like it never did before.

After discussing over the content of e-mail with my wife, we replied:

Dear ...., I would like to thank you for your concern about our safety in US. Yes, I agree with you that the threat of terrorism is ever present. However, after discussing with my wife, we do not feel the necessity to go back. We both feel that dangers and death are undeniable certainties in our earthly life. As Christians, we hold the belief that heaven is a much better place than earth. As we are assured of our place in heaven, death is not really a lost to us as we are just moving on to a better place.

Hence, “if we perish, we perish”... Hope you are doing fine with your studies. Take care and keep in touch.

Well, 2007 came and passed! The timing and the cause may be off, but the US financial market is indeed in a major meltdown now. One by one, the giants are falling down. No one would have ever foresee the demise of Lehman Brothers, AIG, Merrill Lynch, ...
Whilst my wife and I can't say that we are prepared to die, we did discussed some years back, how we would like our funeral to be conducted. We both agree that it would be a celebration of our life and we each selected a song, our so called "funeral song".

Mine is a entitled, "When It's All Been Said and Done," sung by Don Moen. The tune is solemn but nice. But what I like most about the song is that the lyrics are very meaningful. Hence, it is not only my 'death' song, but it has also become my life song!

When it's all been said and done

There is just one thing that matters

Did I do my best to live for truth?

Did I live my life for you?

...

When it's all been said and done

All my treasures will mean nothing

Only what I have done

For love's rewards

Will stand the test of time

....

Lord, your mercy is so great

That you look beyond our weakness

That you found purest gold in miry clay

Turning sinners into saints

....

I will always sing your praise

Here on earth and in heaven after

For you've joined me at my true home

When it's all been said and done

You're my life when life is gone...

There is a recording of this song on Youtube. Be patient, wait for the song.

To play video, please click below but remember to turn off or pause the background IMEEM music first.

.reflection: there is just one thing that matters!