I’m learning how to die.

It all started two weeks ago when I discovered my childhood friend and former bandmate committed suicide. And not your typical run of the mill suicide either. It was suicide by cop and headline news in my old stomping grounds of SoCal.

The next hour I discovered my Visa had been compromised and maxed out. Thank God I had listened to my gut and lowered our maximum from $20,000 to $1,000 the week before.

Two days later, I saw that my Mastercard was being used to book a $1700 flight with “Air Serbia” and to pay the county of Sacramento for God knows what. That’s when I knew. I just knew that my identity had been stolen.

Since I happen to be a “valued” member of Anthem, I put two and two together and confirmed with Anthem that my identity had indeed been handed ov…er, stolen.

I spent the next 2.5 hours on the phone at work trying to setup fraud alerts, sign up for identity repair services and filing a police report with the county sheriff’s office.

I work in technology for a living and have always loved it; but to spend my entire adult life being so anal-retentive about who I give my social security number to and to have it simply snatched off a computer, really chaps my hide man. Yeah, I sorta hate technology right now.

One week later we have record-breaking, nonstop rains in Colorado. I walk into our newly finished basement to see our $5,000 laminate flooring buckling up and an abundance of water percolating through the crevices.

Yep, we were flooding and unfortunately not like Steve Urkel. To top it off, since it’s an act of God, our home insurance claim was denied.

A friend told me I should change my name to Jason “Job” Ogle.

This all comes after my wife and I had to watch our 28wk prematurely born son “Noah” die and go to Heaven April of last year after they both underwent surgery in utero to correct a malformed lung compressing his heart.

The year before that I was laid off from a ministry job that I moved my family of six 1000 miles away for just shy of a year prior.

The reality is, hard times happen (sometimes all at once!). None of us are untouchable. None of us are exempt from life’s greatest challenges. I used to think as Christian’s we were. I couldn’t have been more wrong. You see (to quote Keith Green) God did not come to make us happy, but to make us holy (sorry Joel Osteen).

But, we do have a choice of how we respond in our trials. We do have a choice as to who and where we put our faith and trust in the midst of our deepest, darkest trials.

I choose to put my faith in Jesus Christ.

Why?

Because all other ground is sinking sand.

I’m learning to die because Jesus said, “If anyone desires to follow Me, he must take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)

What’s a cross for? It’s an instrument of death. Not a gentle death either. It was and probably still is the most inhumane, brutal forms of execution throughout all of history. My innocent Savior Jesus out of His great love for us, literally took His up and died excruciatingly and shamefully for all of us 2000 years ago in order that we might be forgiven and spend eternity with Him and not in hell separated from Him forever.

One of His too easily forgotten requirements in the modern church today is that we too must die. We must die to ourselves in order to truly live. He said if any man seeks to save his life, he will lose it. He who loses his life for My sake will find it (Matt 16:25).

I have also been reminded that the wise builder builds his house on solid ground (Matt 7:24–27).

Even though my temporal home’s foundation is solid, it sits in a ravine where the flood water builds up [featured pic] and invades our temporal dwelling place.

Oh, how I cannot wait for my flood-proof, identity theft-proof and death-proof eternal mansion in Heaven!

“In this world you will have tribulation; but take heart, I have overcome the world.” — Jesus