QBs gone west

One of my walks here in Anacortes, WA takes me to our little airport. As you enter the area there is a circle of benches around a metal table inscribed with the words, "To all QBs gone west." Obviously I asked myself, "What's a QB?" Certainly not a quar­terback; there's no special connection between football and flight. So I Googled it and found it refers to a group of former pilots who formed the association in 1921. They call themselves the "Quiet Birdmen,” the QBs. That some had "gone west" was not difficult to understand. They had reached the end of their years and died. The benches and table honored their contribution to life and the community.
       We all "go west,” that's for sure. "Three score and ten" has expanded to more like "four score and more," but regardless of the specific number, life comes to a close. Which makes us ponder. What's it all about? Is this all there is? Does it make a difference? The consistent materialist would say "Well, that's it! From the dust we came and to the dust we return. Any ideas about life beyond the grave arise from some vain hope that should there be more we'd like to be in on it. Understandable but outside of scientific certainty."            Fortunately many of us are unwilling to settle for the lim­ited scope of the materialist. We recognize that scientific inquiry is limited to that part of reality you can measure. And you can't measure things like love, hope, friendship and desire. In fact, we instinctively accept the fact that much of what lies beyond the verifiable is what makes life worthwhile. We posit a realm that lies beyond. That which matches the deeper concerns of what it means to be alive.
       The Christian faith begins with God. He is the Creator. He existed before he created. The universe that is carefully studied by the scientist is the gift of a creator God. Man, the ultimate act of God, has been created with a profound desire to know his Creator. And then comes "the rest of the story." In a moment of uncertainty man chose independence and it was granted. Now, apart from God, he wanders in a spiritual wasteland. Able to search out the intricacies of material reality he finds himself lacking the personal relationship intended by God. The answer is provided by a loving Father who gave his Son a sacrifice for man's sin.
       This changes everything. Granted, we all "go west" but Scrip­ture teaches that for those who in simple faith accept the saving work of the Father, west is heaven. May that be true not only for the QBs honored by the table engraved, but for all whose final flight would have take them into an otherwise hopeless eternity.