"Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' Yes, says the Spirit, 'that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.'" (Rev. 14:13)

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel awoke one morning to read his own obituary in the local newspaper. It said, "Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, who died yesterday, devised a way for more people to be killed in war than ever before, and he died a very rich man."

Actually, it was Alfred's older brother who had died. A newspaper reporter had bungled the epitaph. Nevertheless, the account had a profound effect on Alfred Nobel. He decided he wanted to be know for something other than developing a means of killing people more effectively. Thus, he initiated the Nobel Peace Prize, the award given to worthy individuals who foster peace.

Nobel said, "Every person ought to have the chance to correct his epitaph in midstream and write a new one." Truly, few things will change us as much as genuinely looking at our life as though it is finished.