We have hope...

It is 6:00 AM and I am sitting here thinking about a great man that passed into Glory a couple of days ago. It was so obvious that he loved his wife, his precious daughter, his entire family and most of all he loved God. No man or woman on this earth is perfect, but this man exuded the love of Jesus every time I saw him. Not by being pious in his attitude, nor by being religiously restrained in his presence. But he was laughter and joking and making funny quips with what I call rapid humor. You had to be quick to catch it sometimes and when I did it made me laugh so! :-) And in the midst of the joking and laughter and the twinkling in his eyes...I saw Jesus! Out of all the many attributes and talents that this man had, one vivid thing I remember about him...I would always see Jesus in the twinkling of his eyes as he watched and I believed enjoyed seeing me totally break up laughing over something he said.  I "saw" Jesus smiling back at me.

He lived his life for the Lord, was an excellent example of Jesus Christ before many and now he has gone home. We can and may never understand why things happen in this life and having lost loved ones myself on this journey of life; there are always questions. There is nothing wrong with questions I've learned, as long as we know that God almighty never changes, He remains the same and is always there when we call out to Him. God is for us and not against us.

This gentle man will be sorely missed. He effected so many people in this earth, so many I am sure that he probably never even knew about. Perhaps he knows now, or he is so caught up in the majestic presence of God, that as he bows at the nailed scarred feet of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and feels and is enveloped in the pure, unadulterated, crystal clear love of God... it does not matter. What does matter is that we make sure our lives count just as this man's did. He served the Lord not only by his confession, but by his day to day life; by loving God and letting that love pour from him to others. 

Grief can sometimes be what we consider a long journey, but this I know, the Lord is with us every...single...step...of the way. He never leaves us and is always there even when we feel that He is not. He is always waiting with arms wide open to gently comfort us and wipe our tears.  There is always HOPE in Him, for we do not grieve as those that have no hope...

"But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these words."

 I Thessalonians 4:13-18