Heaven

There is a dear old man in our church who is dying.  It's strange because he is ninety-four years old it shouldn't be so unexpected but it is.  He is one of the healthiest old men I have ever seen, don't laugh but he doesn't look a day over eighty.  He doesn't stay at home he is very active, in fact I think he still has a part time job, and he is always serving our church.  Well his friends decided to have a service for him before he dies of the cancer.  I actually think this is kind of nice I mean this way he will get to hear all the nice things people would have said to him after he dies.  It was a little strange, I mean for us, and of course it wasn't about us, but what is it about those type of things that make me feel so awkward, so clumsy?  In the car on the way over I'm a twenty-eight year old mother of two and as soon as we walk through the doors of the church I become a twelve year old girl.  However, as I was sitting in the back of the room listening to people talk about this man I was struck by how little I know him, by how many lives he's touched, by the fact that he has watched generations of children grow up right before him.  They talked about how he used to hold Carla and Marla on his hips while there mother got settled on Sunday mornings; Carla is our senior minister's wife and Hunter's adopted Grandma, how strange and moving to imagine this man much younger and Carla as a toddler!

Even though I have only known this gentlemen for three years he has managed to touch our lives as well.  A year or two ago, he came to church with a brand-new leather coat for Brian.  I love this coat it looks like an old bombers jacket and Brian wears it on Sundays and when we go out.  It makes me think about that scripture that says; if we have two coats and we see our brother in need we are to give it to him (very loose translation by me).  He embodied the meaning of this scripture in such a real way.  It makes me smile to think about it.

Blessed is the man who walks NOT in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water.  That brings forth it's fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither, and Whatever he does shall prosper.  Bob you truly lived this out, you love God, and others.  You served with a joyful heart and lived a long vibrant life.  You are the kind of man that I pray my sons become.  Praise Jesus that death does not have the final say in our lives.