I feel caught between lives. Faith is an anchor fastening me between Here and There. People are passing....both ways. I see them coming and going.
My parents' friend, mentor for me, father figure, "life coach".....passed into God's presence today. He battled illness for many months. It may not make sense to an unbeliever, but I feel proof.....the passage of saints into the next life is proof of my own faith.
Every sermon he ever preached to me is unalterably validated to me on this day when he stands before His Maker, somehow. Now that he stands before Christ, in person, I feel I see all the more clearly how much of a Christ-Bearer he was. Momentarily, in my imagination, the dark glass through which we see clears.
He is there.
Soon, I will be.
Then there are the many who are "not quite yet". Several of my friends are about to give birth. They are "here" but not quite here. Steve is gone but not "gone." We are the ones who are in between. My faith holds me in the middle, and I can see the coming....and the going.
And God is over all. He is here, and there.
In truth, it is the life and death and resurrection of Christ that makes the transcendence so tangible. Here, there, and in the middle....all walked by the Christ. Who still lives.
From his daughter's facebook status today:
"And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God."
My parents' friend, mentor for me, father figure, "life coach".....passed into God's presence today. He battled illness for many months. It may not make sense to an unbeliever, but I feel proof.....the passage of saints into the next life is proof of my own faith.
Every sermon he ever preached to me is unalterably validated to me on this day when he stands before His Maker, somehow. Now that he stands before Christ, in person, I feel I see all the more clearly how much of a Christ-Bearer he was. Momentarily, in my imagination, the dark glass through which we see clears.
He is there.
Soon, I will be.
Then there are the many who are "not quite yet". Several of my friends are about to give birth. They are "here" but not quite here. Steve is gone but not "gone." We are the ones who are in between. My faith holds me in the middle, and I can see the coming....and the going.
And God is over all. He is here, and there.
In truth, it is the life and death and resurrection of Christ that makes the transcendence so tangible. Here, there, and in the middle....all walked by the Christ. Who still lives.
From his daughter's facebook status today:
"And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God."
Thank you for posting this... I know that he and his family meant a lot to you all. We will be thinking of you and his family...
ReplyDeleteI know my mom will want to know of this too...
Blessings..
Beautiful. Just... perfect.
ReplyDelete"All walked by the Christ. Who still lives." Nothing can quite prepare one to see a man's widow shovel dirt onto his coffin...nor to watch your brother carry out your grandfather wrapped like a mummy in a sheet. Every time I thought I was done crying, I cried again.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a teary week.
But Christ walks us. He walked each of those beloved men right into glory. I closed Poppop's eyes myself and there was nothing left in that body. It's just. So. Strange...how he's not here any more.
Beloved Christ. The sting of death is gone. Nothing left so violent He didn't take it already. And He'll walk each of us sheep, jostling, pushing, sometimes going in perfect step but notusually...and following the Sheperd we'll make it home all right.
"It's going to be OK, you know that!"
Thanks girls for both of these thoughts. I am still so sad I couldnt go to the funeral.
ReplyDelete