October 6, 2006

I called and said ‘good bye’ to my uncle on Wednesday. He’s chosen to not prolong his life and I thought it important that he know I love him. And even though we have not communicated often with each other, this brief conversation was very important to me. He had the strength to listen, he was coherent enough to understand. I was able to do something with our relationship while it still mattered.

I will miss my uncle, though there are many who will feel his absence much more keenly than I will. In this world we will never see each other again. I doubt that the finality has fully registered. Death means something different because of Jesus.

It hasn’t been all that long since I stood at my aunt’s bedside and said ‘good bye’ to her. I have the confident hope if seeing her again. And when we meet again her smile will not be distorted by the brain tumor that took her.

My uncle will be free of failed organs and weak immune systems. All things will be made new. There can come points in our lives when it seems that we’re leaving little with life’s end. Death can be a welcome peace.

Then we who are ‘alive and remain’ must face the reasons we have to live. I have many and most are vividly in my mind. Prominent is an understanding that there’s much more to my future than today – or even tomorrow.

“A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked. For the LORD God is our light and protector. He gives us grace and glory. No good thing will the LORD withhold from those who do what is right.” Psalm 84:10-11

Be at peace,
Pastor Steve