Last Time for Everything...for now

I took a break from this blog to fly to the United States.  It wasn’t a planned trip.  My older brother had been scheduled for heart surgery on October 8th.  Our family was constantly keeping him in our prayers for a successful outcome.  I had called him the night before his surgery to talk with him, reassure him, and tell him I loved him.  He didn’t answer the phone but sometimes that happened as he was always busy on the phone with his business. Though, he would always at least send me a text to let me know he missed my call and would get back to me.  So, I waited.  Then I called again.  No answer. And no text.  Then I called my other brother to ask if he heard from him.  He and his wife had just visited with him earlier that morning and spent a few hours with him.  So, I just thought, well, he’s busy getting things ready at his house for his surgery tomorrow.  His two sons would be picking him up early on the 8th to take him to surgery. 

It turns out my brother had passed away sometime in the evening of Oct. 7, just a day before his scheduled surgery.  So, I wasn’t able to have that “last call” with him.  I looked back through my text messages and my last message from him was an acknowledgement that some mail I had sent to him had arrived.  That was it.  My last communication with my big brother.  He was only 68. Too soon in my opinion.

There’s a song by country singer Brad Paisley called, “Last Time for Everything” where he talks about last time’s in a person’s life – spending all day on the lake with your grandpa, throwing a ball to the first dog you ever had, stuff like that.  The chorus includes this line: “Last call, last chance; Last song, last dance; Sometimes you just don’t know when that’s gonna be.” 

Very true.

I’m not going to take up space here lamenting about why God allows things like death to happen the way it sometimes does.  I mean, 68?  I was expecting at least 15 to 20 more years with my brother.  I would have very much liked that and I’m very sad that he is gone.  But life’s ups and downs have nothing to do with my faith in my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.  I know (not think, but KNOW) I will see my brother again one day in heaven.  Life here on earth is temporary, we all know that, but the difference as a Christian is having that solid confidence that one day we will be with Jesus in heaven, our true home, forever, along with our loved ones in Christ.

So yes, there is a last time for everything…on earth.  And I can live with that.  There is comfort in knowing that.  It still sucks he is gone now.  But it’s just…for now.

Amen, come Lord Jesus.

·       And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

·       All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. (1 Peter 1:3-5)

·       What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings. They will continue to grow stronger, and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem. (Psalms 84:5-7)

·       But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Philippians 3:20-21)

·       Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
(1 Thessalonians 4:13-14)

·       Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)


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