"If death comes to us  an unwelcome stranger, it will be because Jesus also has always been an unwelcome stranger. For when death comes, Jesus comes, bringing us the everlasting life he has bought for us with his own death." (Thomas Merton) 

What a consolation! We will not be alone in death. Jesus will be there to usher us into the everlasting life of glory. People, who have an after life experience, say there is a bright light that draws them. Jesus is the light of the world. Is this an indication that Jesus is waiting for us and inviting us at that moment to share his eternal life? At the end of our earthly life there will be the joy of seeing God face to face, as long as God has not been a stranger to us but a friend. Abiding in Jesus now will mean abiding with him eternally.