Thoughts

Romans 8:37-39 (from Biblegateway.com)

37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In the past few days, we have gotten some very sad news. Chad's grandfather, Grandpa Emory, has been diagnosed with the late stages of lung cancer and only has a few months to live. For any family, news of the coming death of a loved one is tragic, scary, and very sad. I have had a hard time trying to know what to say and how to comfort Chad, who is very close to his grandfather. Grandpa Emory is 79 years old, is a Christian, and is ready to go home. Even though it is comforting to know that he has peace, it doesn't necessarily make the family he's leaving behind, including his wife of 60 some odd years, have peace. When you are face to face with death, when it is staring you in the face, faith becomes so much more tangible, not just a word used every Sunday, or in some innane conversation. It is literally the only thing holding you up because everything we can see in this world through our human eyes, points to an eternity in the ground.

If we as Christians truly believe what the Lord says, that this life is just the beginning, that the hand that created the entire world and raised the dead is held out for you when you take your last breath, why is death so scary? I will be the first to admit that it terrifies me. How does it feel, what if my faith wasn't enough, what if in Heaven you never know your loved ones... The list of questions goes on and on and on. In my college educated mind, it seems so miraculous, and so unexplainable. Then I remember the verse that says that you must have faith like a child. Children are not afraid to believe, to reach out, to throw their heart and soul into their love for Jesus. Even though childhood really wasn't that long ago for me, having a faith like that is so remarkable. I guess when you are faced when the inevitably of death, when your body gives out and you literally become like a child, you must turn your faith into that of a child as well. And the Father will welcome you home.

* A side note * For any of you who are dealing with the loss of a loved one, this song by Natalie Grant is wonderful.

Two months is too little

They let him go

They had no sudden healing

To think that providence

Would take a child from his mother

While she prays, is appalling

Who told us we'd be rescued

What has changed and

Why should we be saved from nightmares

Were asking why this happens to us

Who have died to live, it's unfair

This is what it means to be held

How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life

And you survive

This is what it is to be loved and to know

That the promise was that when everything fell

We'd be held

This hand is bitterness

We want to taste it and

Let the hatred numb our sorrows

The wise hand opens slowly

To lilies of the valley and tomorrow

This is what it means to be held

How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life

And you survive

This is what it is to be loved and to know

That the promise was that when everything fell

We'd be heldIf hope if born of suffering

If this is only the beginning

Can we not wait, for one hour

Watching for our savior

This is what it means to be held

How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life

And you survive

This is what it is to be loved and to know

That the promise was that when everything fell

We'd be held