a grief observed

My grandfather, Robert Gene Thomas, passed away in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

Which is an uncomfortably sterile way of saying that my Grandpa Bob is now with Jesus.

It is sad, and we will miss him, and finding the right words to describe him to my children someday will be an impossible task.

BUT.

He is pain-free for the first time in 40 years. He has a new body. He is walking the streets of heaven unassisted, with no walker, no cane, not even a limp. He is praising God in the presence of God.

Today I will watch football and drink a Diet Mountain Dew in memory of Grandpa Bob, knowing that I would trade my reality for his in a heartbeat.

forever is an awfully long time

Eternity has been on my mind lately.

I know, really light subject, huh?

It started with an incredible funeral last week. I say incredible because it was a 37-year-old mother of an autistic toddler; she died from a massive epileptic seizure.

I also say incredible because have you ever seen an entire family, robbed of their youngest daughter, with hands uplifted, singing Great is Thy Faithfulness? It's incredible.

There are a number of questions which accompany funerals. You generally think about yourself: What if it happened to you? What if it happened tomorrow? Are you prepared? Are things in order?

I had a few other reactions, too. It was an open casket funeral, and I haven't been to that type of funeral in probably 10 years. It just struck me, though, that she wasn't there. Her body was, but everything that made her Melanie has passed onto glory - where she is healed, whole, and standing in the presence of Jesus Christ.

There was a lot of hope present at that funeral - this life is not all there is. We have a hope that transcends this material world. Glory to God!

My internal dwelling on eternity continued tonight at Southland City Church. One of my new favorite songs is called Yahweh, and these are the only lines I know from memory:

We look to Yahweh, Yahweh.
Forever Yahweh, Yahweh.

And He shall reign forever; He shall reign forever;
He shall reign forever and ever.

I sang those lines over and over, in my car, all the way home. I was struck by the realization that long after I am gone, when this place is nothing but wasteland, and when the temples of man's ingenuity are nothing but forgotten ruins, Yahweh will reign.

And for forever after that, He will still reign.

And for all that time, from the time I am finished in this world until time is no more, I will give praise to Him.

Which was when all my thoughts came together: When Melanie lost consciousness that day, she left this world and awoke to the presence of Jesus Christ, whom she will praise forever and ever.

Glory to God in the highest.