Life Began at Death

I'm convinced nearly every person has one of these moments. Frederick Buechner described it as the day life began for him; it was the day his father committed suicide.

For some, this "when life began" moment revolves around the death of a loved one, the loss of a house or a job, or the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness. Regardless of the specific event, this moment in time changed the life of the person who experienced it.

For me, that moment was Nov. 26, 1989. It was the day one of my best friends was in a car accident; he died several days later.

After you experience a "when life began moment," several things usually occur. First, you begin to question your belief system, those things you trusted and put your faith in--almost without thinking. You also begin to notice things differently. Something a friend says, the way your kid smiles after doing something funny, the way your house smells after arriving home from a trip or a long day at work.

At the root of a "when life began moment" is the struggle--sometimes overtly and sometimes subtly--between what writer Mark Buchanan called the "borderland." It's the area that exists between belief and unbelief.

A "when life began moment" nearly always delivers a person into this borderland. What do I believe anymore, what happened to the life I had planned, why did misfortune choose me? It's a struggle on many levels: emotional, spiritual and even aesthetically.

And, it's what this blog--Beyond the Borderland--will delve into each week.

We'll have some fun too. But ultimately, we'll look at life, writing and how to travel the path between belief and unbelief. I hope you tag along!