Death is not pretty. It is very grim, very ugly. There is an old saying, “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.” Mostly nobody, anyway.
It takes something strong enough to kill us to separate us from this life. We are all due to separate from this life sooner or later. Why are some people taken now and not later? I don’t know. Why do some mean people die peacefully in their sleep when good people die in some horrible fashion? I don’t know.
I cannot even begin to fathom God’s reasons for doing what He does. I do believe that we have much freedom of choice in what happens to us. If we get in our cars and drive recklessly on the highway, then we can cut our lives short by doing so. There are persons who could have lived decades more but for reckless driving on their own part or someone else’s, or for smoking or abusing their bodies with alcohol or other drugs.
Do I believe in an afterlife. You bet. Do I believe that we will be reunited with our loved ones? Absolutely. Can I offer you forensic proof of heaven? No. And no one can offer forensic proof to the contrary.
So what to do?
Make your life count. Live for a higher purpose than mere survival. Find your role in the Divine Plan and do your best to fulfill it. When you do these things, you don’t worry so much about death. Because I trust God, I do not fear death.