Harold was a friend, actually an acquaintance, an outstanding Christian in the community. A well respected man, a good father, a good husband, a faithful mate to his wife of 50 years. Then one day it happened. His wife passed away. He could not accept this. He questioned God although he had seen a miraculous healing of his mother that led his father to saving faith in Jesus Christ. His depression led him to withdraw from pretty much all Christian activity.

One day he decided he must see his wife, he must be with her. He closed himself in his garage, called a friend and told him to tell his daughter where he could be found. Then he took his life. The whole community was shocked. How could this happen? Love is as strong as death, he must be with his wife.

There was another man. I will call him Mr. C. He was married for 37 years, he had two children, a girl and a boy. One day Mr. C. went on a trip to see his son. While he was gone, Mr. C's wife left him and moved out. She was involved with another man she met at her work. Mr. C. couldn't accept this. One day, after she had left, he went to his farm with a rifle and ended his life. Love is as strong as death, He could not live without her.

I had two pups that I had purchased out of state. One was a female Sheltie which looked like a miniature collie. The other one was a male Papillon. They played hours on end and grew up together. They had two litters of pups together. He was a proud father and you could tell he loved his wife (female dog) very much. After years of being together, the female (her name was Gracie) developed cancer. She was quite sick and Sam (the male dog) was very concerned. Then it happened, Gracie passed away. Sam could not accept this. His life companion was gone. He refused to eat, even though my daughters tried hard to feed him and get him out of his depression. Sam willed himself to starve and died because he couldn't live without Gracie. These were animals, yet God's Word is true, love is as strong as death (Song of Solomon 8:6).

There was the true and living God of heaven. He had a Son He loved very much. He was so pleased with Him (Matthew 3:17), but there were people that He also loved. He loved these people so much that He gave His One and only Son (John 3:16 NIV) to die for them so that they might live eternally with Him because love is as strong as death. But in this redemption, God brought His Son back to life so that He would be the first of all these ones (the first fruits) of a new creation of people — called the children of God (1 John 3:1‑2).