What a way to go!

Hello and welcome to a brand new Monday, already the second day of the week on this September 29, 2008. You most likely have heard some of the hero stories about those who risked life and limb to help others escape the ravages of “Ike”. We also know that a fair number of folks didn’t make it. Several were actually killed during the clean up effort by falling trees and other related mishaps. There are also those who received their promotion into the presence of the Lord while the storm was raging. I wanted to share one story we heard from one of our neighbors. It’s about his niece’s elderly grandmother who was staying with her and her family during the storm.

The way it was told says this elderly lady and her family were sheltered in place and watching most of the night Friday into Saturday morning. Everyone was understandably stressed as the storm came closer and closer. Just as the storm began to beat on their home the grandmother called all the family together and asked them to find the couple of hymnbooks in the house. She then told them what songs to sing and they gathered around her and sang the hymns she requested. When they finished, she told them that today was going to be a wonderful day. Shortly after that she closed her eyes in death to awake in a far better place. I can’t help myself. I love these types of home going stories. What a wonderful way to leave this world, and in doing what she did the way she did it has caused me and many others to be encouraged by her testimony.

I have mentioned before about the use of the word translated ‘hope’ in the Bible. The word used in the Scriptures does not involve in any way a ‘hope so’ connotation. Rather, it reflects a confident assurance in the reality of God and His truths. That elderly lady embraced her own realization of her hope and blessed assurance, and as a result she instantaneously experienced the full measure of the truth that tells us as believers that one day we will: “….be absent from the body and present with the Lord.” (see 2 Corinthians 5:8) This absolute truth, when put into practice helps us to live out each day with confidence because as God’s very own, He will never leave us or forsake us, and we have our Savior’s promise that He is preparing a special place for us. I can’t visualize what that place might be like but I somehow believe being in His presence defines the experience much better than any mental concept of mansions or earthly splendor. One more time, I do love this lady’s story and I pray it will be an encouragement to you, today! Amen. ….More later.