Remebering

Well another memorial weekend has come and gone. If by chance you take the time to read this, thank God cause it means your still alive. I am 50 years old and I thank God each and everyday for his grace. I thank him for keeping me in spite of my ignorance and shortcomings. To grow old is a blessing from God. One experience that is common to man its to have to deal with the passing of a love one. One of the first experiences I had with it was the passing of my father. I remember it as if it was yesterday. He and my mother were separated and we had moved to Des Moines Iowa from Kansas City Mo. My mother received a phone call from my aunt informing her that my father who was 39 years old at the time had been killed in an accident. It was the fall of 1971.

As a child of 10 years I had no experience to teach me or prepare me of how to respond to this. I remember this numb feeling of mixed emotions. I wanted to comfort my mother but did not know how. We traveled to KC to attend the funeral, and it was here that the shocking reality of death confronted me. I remember approaching my father's body in the coffin and thinking he should be able to get up. I looked intently at his body to see if i could see any evidence of the injuries he had sustained. I watched my mother grief somewhat confused about it because of the circumstances surrounding their separation. Today I realize that I loved my father and feel a void in my life as a direct result of his passing. I don't know him as a father or a man and feel my own life has been inadequate as a result.

As a Christian I take comfort in knowing what God has promised us for our earthly walk with him. I often wonder if my own father was saved, and if the sting of death and its consequences has been removed because of his relationship with Jesus Christ. There in lays the answer to the most important aspect of the human experience in my opinion. Where will you spend eternity. If we have turned our lives over to Christ by being saved we can take comfort in knowing were we will spend eternity. I Corinthians 15:-55 says, "Where, O death, is your sting?" I Where, O death, is your victory?" Memorial day should be just that. A time to reflect back on the moments in our lives with love ones who have gone on home to be with the lord. Knowing that if we stand on Gods promise we will see them again.