Wednesday, November 4, 2015
“So he drove the man out;
and at the east of the Garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming
sword which turned every direction to guard the way o the tree of life” (Genesis3:24).
Hey Gang: There is no
question the great gift of all time given to us by our Lord is “For God
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). But,
as I was standing by the bed of my brother who had suffered with Alzheimer’s
for many years; I realized what a tremendous gift God gave to us when He placed
cherubim with flaming swords at the gate to the Garden of Eden to prevent our
having access to the ‘tree of life’.
When I received the phone call from my
daughter that my father had had a series of strokes and was not expected to
live the night, I was in Illinois doing a workshop. I gave her an
impossible task: keep him alive until I get home so that I can say
goodbye. This she did, he was there in bodily form only, and as I
took his hands and said my goodbyes to him, I closed my goodbye by giving him
my blessings to leave earthly body and go and be with the Lord.
My father was 90; my brother was 86
years of age, both had lived beyond the words of the Psalmist, “As for the
days of our life, they contain seventy years, or, if due to strength, eighty
years” (Psalm 90: 10). For more than a year my prayer for my
brother was “Lord. I pray Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, and I pray
that Your will is to take him home.” What a blessing that he did not have
to lay in that condition until Jesus returns! Garden of
As a lad growing up I had a great fear
of death. I lost three of my grandparents within a short period of time
and an aunt to a fire. It was during the time when our nation was locked
into a world war, where death was ever present. Many families changed the color
of the stars that hung in their windows which depicted whether their son or
daughter was alive and or had paid the ultimate price.
I grew up with the feeling that death
and funerals were very sad events ,and one should do as the Jewish traditions
called for- bringing in the mourners who wailed and cried out for days in
memory of one who passed away. I remember when my grandfather
passed away, the elderly ladies of the church, all dressed in black came and
just sat in the house for the three days until the funeral. As a little
boy, death was a terrifying event.
But then one day the father of one of
my employees passed away and I went to the funeral home to pay my respects to
the family and was absolutely amazed when I walked in. The air was filled with
praise music, people were singing and the building was filed with joy. It
was at that moment that it finally struck home - all of those verses that give
us descriptions and promises that await for God’s people who have completed
their tenure here on earth and have been invited to come and be with Him
eternally.
Soooo, my young friends if you
have a fear of death, reread the fringe package that God has prepared for those
who love Him and called according to His purposes. There is a lot of
running and leaping and praising God going on in the heavenlies. I also
understand it is a noisy place, the air is filed with praise and worship to our
Lord.
Blessings, Gramps
PS from Gma: If you want to be blessed
and excited about Heaven, read Imagine the God of Heaven by John Burke.
