Precious Death

I went to a funeral for a friend’s mother a few days ago.  She was 57 when she died, so it brought back some memories of the last time I attended a funeral for someone who had died at a young age, my mother.

My uncle had recently lost his mother in July of 2003 and my mother, who was a very caring person….

Too bad it didn’t rub off on you…

….had written a note to him, intending to send it, but had most likely forgotten to mail it for several days, she had a poor memory…

Which DID rub off on you…

When the note was found, it was given to my uncle and after he read it he passed it around for everyone to read.  Some people do not believe that there is a plan, that God hasn’t decided what things will happen at what time.  Bah!

There is only one line I really remember from the note:  “…it is never a good time to lose a parent…”

What are the chances of such a great coincidence that Mom would write this note, then forget to mail it for several days, just so that we could find it on the day of her funeral?  It was lying near the container of Sting-Off that she had put on the bee stings before she started feeling faint.  The memory of that little bottle always brings tears to my eyes.  It summarizes perfectly what happened, it is a small, yellow bottle that is sold in many stores filled with an ointment that you put on insect bites and bee stings.  It costs five dollars.  It is meant to treat minor injuries, and that is what it should have been, a minor injury, but it turned into something completely different.  It still amazes people when I tell them that my mother died from a bee sting.  There must be a plan.

“…it is never a good time to lose a parent…..”

The woman that died recently didn’t die from a bee sting, she suffered greatly from a variety of ailments.  Her pastor spoke of one time when he visited her, she couldn’t wait until her sister had left the room so that she could ask him to do her funeral service.  He said that he tried to dodge the question a little, but she told him “the end is coming soon.”

He had been friends with her for many years and I could see that he had not wanted to admit to himself the truth.  We can talk about how we believe in Heaven, that there is glory for believers after death, but the first time you lose someone close to yourself, someone you had known for years, you are confronted with the choice of whether or not you TRULY believe.
At the funeral for Grandpa #3, his pastor said that Heaven is not truly important until you know someone there.  How true.

Her pastor asked her several times over the course of his visits with her, “Are you scared?”

The end was coming, she would slip from her toils on this earth, this land of pain and sadness, and depart to a place where no more would she feel pain, sorrow, anger, or hatred, only love, happiness, and joy.  She would be with her Savior, but was she scared of the journey?

“No,” she always replied.  

Death where is your sting?

“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.”

---Psalm 116:15

There is still sorrow, there is still the void left by the departure of your mother that can’t really be filled.  You have to go through the rest of this life without being able to talk to her again, without hugging her again, without seeing her again, and it is really hard.

A lady spoke at the funeral, the woman’s aunt, and she told everyone that there was only one way to see her again, that there was one path to be rejoined with your departed friend, and that was through Christ.  I liked that.  I’m certain there were people in darkness at the funeral and hearing the Gospel one more time is always a good thing.  Or it could condemn them all the more, but it must be heard.

One day we will all be together again, one day we will all be able to talk to each other about nothing like we used to.  The last thing I talked to my mother about was Biofreeze.  I used to rub Biofreeze on Wife #1’s back and it would help somewhat and I had run out.  At that time it was mostly just sold on the at chiropractor’s offices and they didn’t like selling it to non-patients.  Mom offered to run to her chiropractor and get some more, but we found it online for a better deal so it wasn’t necessary.  I’m not sure if I told her that I loved her to end the call, I think I did.  I know I did the last time I saw her, which was in New Jersey less than a week before, we were all heading back home after attending my aunt’s wedding.

Two things I will never forget, the last time we talked was about Biofreeze and the last time I saw her was in New Jersey.  There has to be a grand plan to things.