Yesterday was Good Friday, and it was a memorable one for our family. Due to some sleep issues, our twins ended up napping in the middle of the day, which meant that we missed the Good Friday service at church. Instead, we read through the Passion Gospel (John 18-19) with our older two children. While my husband read it, I turned the corresponding pages in one their illustrated children's Bible, so they could better picture the story their dad was reading them.
And, in the middle of the day, we got news that my husband's grandfather had fallen asleep in the Lord. It came after a long battle with cancer, and there was something fitting in that this servant of the Lord, who spent his whole life bringing the gospel to people who hadn't heard it, and translating the words of Jesus into the heart-language of those who didn't have the Bible in their native tongue, would share the day of his death with his Savior.
Our older two children had been praying for their great-grandpa for months now, and when it began to look like this illness might be his last, we explained to them that he might die, so that they wouldn't be surprised or scared when and if that happened. Only a few days ago, Bess asked, "why are we praying for him if Jesus might not make him better?" And we explained about sickness and death and prayers that aren't always answered the way we wish they were answered. And about things we could pray for for him besides healing - though we would continue to pray for that.
And then that led to talk of Heaven - and I wish that Bess' great-grandpa could have seen her eyes light up as she realized that Heaven meant that someday we'd all be together and none of us would ever be sick anymore and that we'd all be with Jesus. We could tell, watching her, that she understood something she hadn't understood ever before in her short life. In that moment, she got it, and the light in her eyes was a reflection, I think, of the joy of the redeemed there in the presence of God.
I know that there was much more going on in Adam's grandfather's life and in his death than I will ever know, but that small moment was a treasure. Even as he fought his last battle, that battle was bringing one of his great-grandchildren into a better understanding and love of the Lord he served so long and so well. It is a small thing, and does not say anything to the loss, but is, I think, a testimony to the way he lived his life. Rest in peace, Pop-Pop.
O Almighty God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, who by a voice from heaven didst proclaim, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord: Multiply, we beseech thee, to those who rest in Jesus the manifold blessings of thy love, that the good work which thou didst begin in them may be made perfect unto the day of Jesus Christ. And of thy mercy, O heavenly Father, grant that we, who now serve thee on earth, may at last, together with them, be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; for the sake of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell
