It’s been described as ‘the best Greek island you’ve never heard of’, but all that has changed following the disappearance and tragic death of Dr Michael Mosley.

I’ve never been to Simi, but we often spoke about that little island when I was growing up because my dad was heavily involved in the battles that took place in the ‘Dodecanese’ during the Second World War. Thankfully he survived. If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t be writing this column. Tragically, Dr Mosely didn’t, and his family must be experiencing the most excruciating sense of loss, something made all the worse by the unexpected nature of his sudden demise.

Every death is a tragedy, and each one can prompt all sorts of unexpected reactions.  It’s for this reason I try to reassure anyone who has been bereaved that God can identify with our pain. The story of Jesus weeping over the death of his dear friend Lazarus makes that abundantly clear. In fact, the apostle John tells us that Jesus was ‘indignant’ because of the impact his death was having on his family and friends. Grief stricken people need to know that we can tell God anything. He is big enough - and caring enough - to take it. We don’t have to hold back; we can ‘tell Him it as it is’. 

Dr Mosely’s family can rightly feel proud of his legacy. Both his work and his warm generous personality seem to have had a massive impact on countless people. One columnist summed it up well when he wrote that when interviewing him for the first time, he found him characteristically humble, warm and generous. I’m sure I’m not the only one who would be thrilled to know people were remembering me in such a lovely way.

Dr Mosley seems to have been very kind too, and that is not surprising given the fact that he highlighted the health benefits of regular, small acts of kindness in ‘Just One Thing’, the brilliant radio programme in which he revealed surprisingly simple tips scientifically proven to improve our health.

Just doing a few kind things for our family and friends it seems, can help reduce inflammation, protecting us from chronic illness, and even give our mental health a boost. Kinder people are happier people, so much so that that I have read that experiments in Japan show that even spending time thinking carefully about being kind can make us happier.

This is ‘all good stuff of course, but Dr Mosely’s story is a salutary reminder that while we can do all we can to live healthier lifestyles we cannot postpone our encounter with death for ever. Thankfully there’s ‘just one thing’ that we all can do to conquer it.

For the Christian story is true, and there is plenty of evidence to support it, we simply have to put our trust in the One who has overcome death and in so doing opened the Kingdom of heaven for all who put their faith in Him. For when we do that we can rest assured we will join Him in Paradise when we die and we can look forward to ‘life after life after death’ on the day Jesus raises us from the dead too and we will live in perfect bodies perfectly suited for a perfect world.