Our world has lost another oak of righteousness. Oh my, how many we have lost this year, and how sorely they will all be missed. But how thankful we are should be that they have been in our lives and in our world. They've demonstrated how to faithfully run the race all the way to the finish line with gazes locked on Jesus, "the founder and perfecter of our faith." Sam now joins that glorious cloud of witnesses that have gone on before us--even just this very year--and have testified with their actions and attitudes, their lives and loves, what it means to love extravagantly and follow passionately after their beloved Savior.
Oh Father, like those who've gone on ahead--and like our glorious Lord "who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb.12:2)--enable us to faithfully and joyfully persevere all the way till we, too, cross that finish line!
I couldn't help but think of George Verwer's words when asked what he'd like to have put on his tombstone: "'Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord' (I Cor.15:58) That's probably too long for a tombstone, so maybe jut the words 'Keep goin.'"
Amen! Might we all "keep goin'" as we keep running, keep looking to and living for our Savior--the One who kept goin' for us...all the way to the cross...and the empty tomb.
For all those who are grieving and deeply missing dear ones this Christmas, can I just remind you that they are not lost. Simply upgraded to an infinitely better and more glorious address. They cannot be lost, because you know exactly where they are and you will see them again one day.
The day Sam went home to heaven, our children also all left our home after the Thanksgiving holiday to return to their homes and apartments in Charlotte, Atlanta and Chapel Hill. It was a hard day, for Richard and I had enjoyed every moment of being with them for several wondrous days. When the last one drove off, well, it left a big gaping, sad hole. How I would miss seeing them, eating with them, laughing with them. Yet while our children might not be with us, we knew exactly where they were going, where they were living, and we knew we'd see them again...even very soon--at Christmas, praise God!
I kept thinking of Sam and his family. They were deeply grieving and missing his presence. He had left them to head on ahead to his perfect, ultimate, joyous, heavenly home. But because of Christmas--because Jesus came to our earth to redeem us and save us--Sam's family and friends will all see him again. And so will the families of countless other dear friends who are deeply missing their mamas...daddies...siblings...friends this Christmas.
Our loved ones who have died in Christ are fully alive today....in fact, every one of them is more abundantly, joyfully, and perfectly alive this very moment than any of us still stuck here in the "shadowlands" (to quote C.S. Lewis). And because Jesus left heaven to travel down to this world to save us, we know, know, know our loved ones have traveled to heaven and are radiantly alive with the Savior...and we will see them again, praise God!
No one ever expressed it better than the poet John Donne: "I shall rise from the dead...I shall see the Son of God, the Sun of Glory, and shine myself as that sun shines. I shall be united to the Ancient of Days, to God Himself, who had no morning, never began...No man ever saw God and lived. And yet, I shall not live till I see God; and when I have seen Him, I shall never die."
Thank You, Lord, for Jesus, for salvation, for heaven, and for all those who have gone on ahead of us to rejoice and reign with You in glory. Might we sing afresh this year: "Good Christian men, rejoice with heart and soul and voice. Now ye need not fear the grave. Peace! Peace! Jesus Christ was born to save. Calls you one and calls you all to gain His everlasting hall. Christ was born to save. Christ was born to save."
To God--who came at Christmas, saved at Calvary, rose in glory, and will take us home to heaven--be all the glory.
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