Something we sing every Sunday – may it never get old – may it never become rote.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host:
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

2 Corinthians 4:7-11 (<<click to read the passage)

This past week I had this privilege of serving a family by officiating at the funeral services of the family matriarch. I knew this beautiful woman – a faithful servant of God who passed at 94 years of age – but I knew none of her family. One of her great-grandsons spoke to me prior to the funeral service; I would guess him to possibly be of school age – a very sweet boy. After we had traveled to the cemetery and had completed the graveside service, he was overcome with grief. He clung to his mother and then to his father. He was suffering the loss of a loved one dear to his heart.

Later I thought of him and his bereavement. How do we explain such things to a child? It would most certainly be a difficult challenge. But as I pondered, a thought came to mind. If we pressed our thumb and our forefinger tightly together, it could illustrate the length of time his great-grandmother had lived upon this earth – all 94 years in that tight space. And if we measured from that span to the very ends of the known universe, we might possibly catch just a glimpse of just a portion of eternity. She may have gone before but we are but a few steps behind.

All of us have lost loved ones near and dear to our hearts – we mourn their departure from us. But before we know it, in the blink of an eye, we will be reunited for all of eternity…if we, as she had done, accept Christ’s gift of salvation. And once that threshold of death – merely the end of life for these “jars of clay” in which we now travel – once that threshold is crossed, our glorified bodies will exist forever – no more suffering, no more loss, no more separation. What a hope we have – when that hope is placed in Christ!

Sept 2nd, 2018, Sun, 9:06 pm