Death Can Catch Us Off Guard

ARDMORE, OK-There times when you hear about the death of an individual where you are caught completely off guard in hearing the news. I am a big movie buff and was stunned to hear about the deal of Sydney Pollack a couple of months ago. He directed The Way We Were and Tootsie and was also a fine actor as I had just recently seen him in Michael Clayton.

Being the political junkie that I am, I podcast Meet the Press every week and look forward to the engaging dialog that this show always delivers. So I was surprised once again to hear about the collapse and death of its host, Tim Russert, while he was on the set of MTP getting ready to record the weekly show.

While both of those deaths touched me and I do feel for their families, I didn't know either of these fine gentlemen and only viewed their lives from afar through the media. But this week, the surprising death of a former colleague brought me to a point of tears. Tisha Belt was the Director of HR at IMTEC Corporation during the time when I worked for the company from 2004-2006.

To know Tisha was to know someone who just bubbled with life. Some one who enjoyed life in corporate American even when her "temporary" HR office was a converted bathroom. Someone who had a laugh that was so contagious that you could be a couple of doors away from her office and still chuckle just because you heard her laugh.

She went home to be with the Lord on Monday. Truly an angel has been called home but I'm pretty sure that there is even more laugher in heaven now that Tisha is there. Death has a way of touching our lives when we least expect it and most suddenly.

The funny thing is that while we ALL have an eventual appointment with death, we tend to live our lives as if we can just move that appointment around in our Outlook planner or just reschedule it on our pocket or Google calendar. Psalms 90:12 emplores us to, "Teach us to number our days". That is to say that we are to make the most of each day that the Lord blesses us to see. Make each day count for something larger because when its all said and done, we have to leave all of our possessions behind. Our words and our works are the only things that make it from time into eternity.

My condolences to the Belt family. My praise to God for sharing Tisha with us for 37 years. My appreciation to you for sharing a part of your life reading this pondering.

Tisha Denise Belt's Obituary in local Ardmore newspaper: The Daily Ardmoreite