Farewell's

Sometimes good bye's are breezy and easy. Friends will be seen again very soon and there is no reason to mourn. They are bittersweet, a warm lingering embrace echoing with the fond time having just been spent.

In the last days I've said to far too many good bye's than I care too. For just a few precious moments I feel the privilege of sweet fellowship with a friend. Moments that slip by altogether too quickly and than it's good bye till a time that is not known. Phone and e-mail make me very glad for hearts can be shared even over a great many miles.

Miles separate my brother and I now. This feeling fills me when he's home. Just the lovely thought that my brother is close by and I can tease him whenever I like makes me happy. I don't mind when he teases me. I don't mind when gives what I think is far too much advice but secretly am very grateful. Now he resides somewhere else serving with his gifts and desires and most importantly doing God's work.



I kissed my grandma's check never knowing it would be the last time. I wouldn't have said good bye even if I would have known. Instead I breathed a cheerful good night. For I knew even if I didn't see Grandma in the morning I would see her in heaven. My farewell would not be forever. Good bye's are never forever in Christ whether we say them with expectation of meeting again on earth or whisper a quiet good night for the last time.

Gone...but only from Our Sight

I watched as the hearse slowly pulled out of our driveway. Grandma was leaving what had been her home for the last several years for the last time. In truth she had left hours before when took her last breath and at long last met her Savior face to face. Her body in deteriorating shape was no longer a prison but now only shell; having served grandma very well during her 96 years of life.

I felt very selfish during the days and hours following that beautiful Sunday morning. I wished to see grandma's face light up once more as I stopped in for a visit. I wanted to scoop up the frail hand and let's its warmth fill my heart one more time. Times like those are gone now. Sorrow and joy are left in their place. Lots of joy.

How can we help but rejoice. I imagine that grandma's smile never leaves her face now. Grandma is running with the children that left this earth before they could even be named. There is the One who knew grandma better than any of us. Grandma sought after Him her whole life always looking for a opportunity to follow the Lord's command. Whether it was passing out tracks with her home baked cookies on Halloween. Serving faithfully for years at the Source of Light Bible Correspondence school. Or just the chance to worship with other believers. Grandma now is spending every possible moment with the Lord she longed for all her life. Just the tinniest thought of what Grandma is doing now makes me happy. Yet there is sorrow.

Moments are long gone of stories shared from the past. I miss eating the yummy bakery items from her fridge. Late night visits because everyone else was in bed I found very comforting. Good night kisses were the best because I rarely got them anywhere else. Grandma was notorious for frugal ways. Living through depression meant grandma knew how to make the most of everything.

At first glance it may have appeared grandma lived a life of not enough, but that is what the world would see. Riches, grandma had more wealth than most her age. When grandma slipped away to glory 10 children, 48 grandchildren, and 95 great grandchildren mourned her death. Grandpa who waited patiently 2 years to marry his bride welcomed grandma along with 2 of the children gone before.

Memento's to remember grandma have been bestowed on us but it's just stuff that one day we too shall leave. No the real treasure is vibrantly living and breathing. Carrying on grandma's legacy until we shall meet triumphantly meet in the clouds.

A christian legacy means more than looking back and remembering the blessings of our loved one's life; it also means looking ahead and recognizing that our loved one has gone before us and given us a pathway of faith to follow.
Roy Lessin

Grandma enjoying breakfast with one of her great granddaughter's.

Taken in Victory

Just another Sunday morning. My brother and I slurped up our weekly treat of cold cereal. Dad's eggs sizzled in the pan. Mom chatted on the phone with my brother who was on a trip. Sleepily I went through the motions not bothering to be in the least bit cheery to my family. Just another day. While we were enjoying the pleasure of a normal routine, others were watching as a young man slipped from this earth into the arms of Jesus. Mom talked on the phone with her son as another mother said her last earthly words to the son of her womb. Begrudgingly I served up some eggs to my big brother as another sibling mourned the loss of his big brother. Life so blissfully normal for us, life so painfully turned upside down for our distant cousins.

Today the privilege was ours of attending a remembrance of life. Ironic it seemed to me, my niece celebrated her birthday today. Two celebrations today, one so painful and wrong, the other full of happiness and joy.

I stood so very close to my brother not wanting to think about him being gone as well. My mother couldn't shake the thought either of the shared age of the mourned one and my brother. Every time I saw his figure breathed in his scent. I wanted to say how much I loved him and to wonder why was that this young man was gone and not my brother. I cling to my family tonight lacking the words to them of my deep love and gratefulness. The Father knows.

To my mind it seems so very wrong. How could one so young just die? Someone so bright with future and hope. Humanly we ask God these questions. Answers are in long while coming.

One thing is understood. This young man has only died in body and now lives for ever in heaven. As the pastor said "only passing through the shadow of death not dying for eternity".

God knows the pain of the parents. Was it not Him who gave His own son up for death? Our Father gave His son to die so we might live. Today we mourned the loss of a dear brother in Christ. Tears flowed freely however as we sang praise--so equally due to who's Hand reigns over all.

Moments after losing their son the parents sent out an e-mail notifying of the death. Included simply was the phrase "Death is Swallowed up in victory".

This World Shall Pass Away

This blog absence is most inexcusable I know. Perhaps some day I will write more often with a vengeance. For now the days are busy and right now very hard.

My uncle had surgery yesterday. For weeks already the doctors have suspected cancer. That dreaded word. The disease that took the life of my uncle. Cancer that flipped the lives of our family upside down, five times. And now yet again we find ourselves faced with the reality that we live in a fallen world. The doctors were unable to remove the cancer yesterday. Seven children heard the awful news about their father yesterday. Cousins, aunts, and uncles all around the world grieved.

Yet our Lord is faithful. We have hope, pain and sorrow may be our reality right now but someday it won't. Someday we will worship at the feet of Jesus forever. Knowing it was all so worth it.

The road ahead will not be easy for my aunt. Please pray. They have seven children and 7 soon to be 9 grandchildren. My uncle has 11 siblings, 2 already waiting in heaven. Including his twin brother.

"Neither shall there be any more pain".
Revelation 21:4

My Thoughts, Someone else's Words

I stood unmoving watching the glorious sunset. Many thoughts floated through my mind, I could write them for you here. Instead though I will direct to you another young lady that watched the same sunset. She was in another state hundreds of miles away. She is living a journey far different than mine. However we both are pressing toward the same goal, glorifying our Lord and Savior. Reflect on your own life as you read her reflections.

Our Lord is There

No! No! I thought this couldn't be true it just couldn't. Sadly it was, my brother called asking me if I had "heard the news" and I knew something was wrong. He talked to dad, little while later I found out "the news". A young man had been killed in a tragic farming accident. Leaving his wife of less than 3 years, his baby son. Many things I hear makes me sad. My eyes often fill with tears, but this time I sobbed. For the young wife now a widow caring for her son alone.
This young man like anyone that leaves this earth will not go without leaving a hole. Families around here are large and everyone has many 1st, 2nd, 3rd cousins. There are few that are not affected, he was my 3rd cousin. He was a song leader at the local Mennonite church. The same church where both sides of his families attend. I cannot imagine the grief the church is going through.
I don't need to imagine, nearly the exact some tragedy happened to our church several years ago. Trial of fire it was, the grace of our Lord brought us and the family through.
All of my uncles have been in farming accidents including my father. Several other people we know have also been affected by the dangers of the farming business. My mother has often said she chooses not to think of the "what ifs". Everything is in the sorviun hands of our LORD. Still I cannot but wonder why? Perhaps this is why,

Erwin Lutzer makes the statement in his book Your Eternal Reward, “We want life to be smooth, secure, uninterrupted. God has a different agenda. He is purifying us, testing us, training us so that we might be presented to Him as a pure church, ready to take our place sitting next to Christ on His throne.” That reminds me of another well read author, the Apostle Paul who writes in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 “For our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.”