Death Rates Rising

A recent report in the Journal of the American Medical Association tells us that the mortality rate for children ages one to nineteen increased by almost eleven percent between 2019 and 2020, and an additional eight percent between 2020 and 2021. Most of the upsurge was due to the deaths among older children ages ten to nineteen. The increased rates in this ten to nineteen age group was attributable to increases in suicide, homicide, vehicle accidents, and drug overdoses. Because all of us face the reality of death, it’s important that we understand death in light of God’s story. Those who are in Christ have great hope in the reality of life after death. Consider these comforting words from the Heidelberg Catechism. What is your only comfort in life and death? That I am not my own, but belong body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful savior Jesus Christ! Parents, teach your children the hopeful truths of the Gospel so that they too, might find comfort in life and in death.