This afternoon my sister and her husband went to turn Dad, as they've been doing every hour for these last days. He was looking even weaker, so they called the rest of the family who have been gathered around in Lubango since Tuesday, when he stopped being clearly responsive. As he actually breathed his last, my Mom, four of my brothers and sisters and their spouses and kids, were all there in the room, singing Great is Thy Faithfulness and reading Psalm 116.
What a sweet gift: to have so many of us there, to go peacefully and in peace, to be already in God's presence and then even more in His presence, free of a worn-out body, waiting for a brand-new body, receiving the welcoming hug and the warm, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
A Christian's death is a moment of such power: thanking, praising God for his astonishing grace as lived out by this person; delight at their sharing with so many others now waiting for the final Resurrection day (Dad with his parents again, his two brothers, his sons-in-law Rob and Ezekiel, our daughter Belva); release from pain, relief; and Hope, sheer overwhelming hope, as one person's wonderful story is caught up in God's big Story of a people and a universe made new in Jesus.
Dad's death makes me think afresh of our daughter Belva's death at 7, almost 18 years ago. His life was richly lived in service and blessing, hers so short yet full of joy and blessing for us. But in both cases death sharply breaks into the bustle of this-world activity, so demanding of our attention, with eternal reality. I am so GLAD we are not talking about feel good platitudes, but about God's truth that lets us see beyond worn, breaking bodies.
What a sweet gift: to have so many of us there, to go peacefully and in peace, to be already in God's presence and then even more in His presence, free of a worn-out body, waiting for a brand-new body, receiving the welcoming hug and the warm, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
A Christian's death is a moment of such power: thanking, praising God for his astonishing grace as lived out by this person; delight at their sharing with so many others now waiting for the final Resurrection day (Dad with his parents again, his two brothers, his sons-in-law Rob and Ezekiel, our daughter Belva); release from pain, relief; and Hope, sheer overwhelming hope, as one person's wonderful story is caught up in God's big Story of a people and a universe made new in Jesus.
Dad's death makes me think afresh of our daughter Belva's death at 7, almost 18 years ago. His life was richly lived in service and blessing, hers so short yet full of joy and blessing for us. But in both cases death sharply breaks into the bustle of this-world activity, so demanding of our attention, with eternal reality. I am so GLAD we are not talking about feel good platitudes, but about God's truth that lets us see beyond worn, breaking bodies.
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