death.

R.I.P. Dakota, I don't even know you, but your death brings me great sorrow.

Whenever someone dies, I feel as if God's throwing another punch at me, getting my attention to say--"hey, Jaeyoung, have you been saving any more souls lately?" When someone commits suicide, I feel Him talking to me --"hey Jaeyoung, have you been reaching out to lost souls lately, or better yet, have you been reaching out to your brothers and sisters?"

It's really sad whenever I hear of someone's death, even if it is someone that I don't even know who it is. It reminds me of the fact that, God really does give and take away. No one can predict what can happen tomorrow. Your best friend, God forbid, can be gone in a flick of a second. Better yet, we can be gone in a flick of a second.

It's even more sad how some of these deaths occur to people who don't know God. So, they're literally gone forever. We'll never see them again. Ever.

Dakota was a bronx high school senior, just like me, going through college applications (assuming so), who committed suicide. My friends tell me that he was acting all normal until now, because he's not here anymore.

It's really sad how we live in such a secular society, filled with struggles and pain and a community that largely doesn't even know who Jesus Christ is. We live in a world where the majority claims there is no God and questions His existence. We live in a world where we're driven by our own personal ambitions, and when they disappear, we simply fall apart. We live in a world where unconditional love does not even exist in fairy tales.

We live in a world where friends would simply talk about video games and girls and guys and fun. It is only if you're lucky, you would have a friend that comes up to you and has the nerve to say to you, "hey man, whatsup? how's it going? you dont seem that happy lately. what's been happening?" Instead, we get into convos that start with, "hey, can i copy your homework?" or "hey, yesterday night was so much fun. are you going again tomorrow?"

It is sad. Really.

It is time's like these, when a death occurs, it haunts us. It is now when we finally remember--we are God's children. we are His light. It is through us that people will come to know more about Him. It is through us that people will learn what love really is. And, it also hits us. This guy who just died; he might be burning in Hell. Where were we to help him learn of the kingdom our Lord has promised entry upon us?

My prayer is that we as Christians can rise up and truly spread His word. There may be a person contemplating with the idea of suicide and nobody can even see it coming. Not even his or her closest friends. Let's make sure that he or she knows Jesus Christ and the love he has shown us.

There are even some people out there who are simply lost because they don't know what love really is. Being so submerged in society, filled with hatred and chaos where love means having sex, love becomes almost equivalent of evil. Let's teach them about love by caring for them and loving them the way the Bible teaches us.

Let us also pray that we will be able to meet the girl who asks you for help with Calculus or the boy who simply sits on the last seat of every classroom after death--in heaven.

Let's start working. Our time has already come.