Don't Forget to Say, "I Love You"

 

And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment… - Hebrews 9:27

By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground--because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return." - Genesis 3:19

…a time to be born and a time to die… - Ecclesiastes 3:2a

“We’ll meet again. Don’t know where, don’t know when, but I know we’ll meet again, some sunny day.” —Vera Lynn

Last October, I (Steve) had flown back to Texas to be with my family. “Pop” - my Dad - was at the end of his life, hospice had been called in, and it was time for me to say “Goodbye.”

Saturday, November 5, 2022, Pop ceased breathing in the middle of the night. His journey had ended. God had ultimately healed him from cancer. Goodbye.

I was not there with him when he passed. My Mom and brother were. But, at least I got to tell him that I loved him…that it was ok to go on and we would see him again - “some sunny day.”

Over the last couple of years we have had to say “Goodbye” to more people than we like to admit. How about you? It isn’t easy is it?

Whether it is “Goodbye” because someone gets a new job; moves away; goes to a new school; or, when someone dies, saying “Goodbye” is difficult and often painful. 

But something that we have become more and more aware of is this simple fact: everything in this life has an expiration date.

We don’t mean this to be all “gloom and doom” - it is just a fact. Everything has an expiration date. Including you and I.

All the more reason to spend ourselves tirelessly…completely obeying the command of Christ to “Love God and love our neighbor.” As John the Apostle puts it: “Let us not just love in word or speech, but in deed and truth,” (1 John 3:18).

Love one another.

A few years back - don’t ask us as it will make us feel old - Stevie Wonder had a great song titled, “I Just Called to Say, ‘I Love You.’”  Now that we are older, the power of that song means a lot more. 

We never know exactly how much time we have with those we love. We never know how much time we have to make things right with someone we have been fighting with. We never know how much time we have to make things right with someone we have hurt. We never know how much time we have to forgive someone who has hurt us. We never know how much time we have. Period. 

As I have been reflecting on saying goodbye, the scriptures above - along with a lot of others - came to mind. Now, at first glance, they appear rather gloomy and doomy. Kind of a downer, if you will. But, we should rather look at them as loving reminders of what is approaching for all of us.  Death.

And what better way to prepare for death than living today? Living. Loving.

As Pop used to joke with me: “Live everyday like it’s your last…one day you’ll be right!” 

It’s in more reflective moments such as this that I recall one of my favorite songs of all time. The group Allies (with lead singer Bob Carlisle of “Butterfly Kisses” fame) wrote a song on their “Man with a Mission” album. It was simply titled: “Heaven.”

And as we say goodbye to those we love - it is all the more reason to remember we have the God-given opportunity to see them again. In Heaven.

So, goodbye for now. Adios amigos! May the good Lord take a liking to you! Happy trails to you! And, if we don’t see you again here we pray we see you there…

Oh, and remember, “We love you.”

Heaven - Allies (HQ)

Until we meet again,

Missy and Steve

Memento Mori...

01-04-2022

For everything there is an appointed time, and an appropriate time for every activity on earth: 
a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot what was planted…
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and sober, so that you can pray. Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
I Peter 4:7-8

Tomorrow we will be “laying to rest” a beloved sister in Christ. She has lived a long and beautiful life. It was time for her to depart her earthly vessel.

In the last two years we have regrettably bid farewell to many of our family and friends. It is almost unbearable the amount of death we have seen during this epidemic. And, yet, the Bible expressly tells us…there is a time to die.

Perhaps you've heard the Latin phrase "Memento Mori" - simply translated, it means, "Remember, you must die."

And not just people. Things as well. Businesses have closed. Schools have been shut down. Athletic events canceled. Travel forbidden. And yes, some houses of worship have permanently shut their doors. There is a time to die.

Peter - a fisherman, husband, follower of a wandering homeless Rabbi and one who was not afraid to speak his mind - told the readers of one of his letters that “the end of all things is near.” And the homeless Rabbi he followed? He spoke often of the end.

Lately - and we have no intentions of being morbid here - it seems that the word “expiration” has been popping up more than we want it to. Milk expires. Bread expires. Your car warranty expires (but don’t worry, they’ll call you and let you know that). Churches expire. We expire.

But that should not shake us. Whether we use the term expired, closed down, closed out, shut down, phased out, turned off, promoted to glory, inherit our reward, extinguished, quelled, suppressed, silenced, or even folded…none of us escapes the truth that we will die. It is what it is.

But, is that bad?

This might be a good time to remind ourselves that those of us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ also believe his words, “Don't be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me. There are many rooms in my Father's house. I wouldn't tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for each of you. After I have done this, I will come back and take you with me. Then we will be together. You know the way to where I am going.”

Without making everyone upset…we don’t really know that much about heaven. Truth be told the Bible is not completely clear about what happens to us when we die. There are illustrations, ideas, thoughts, words, and interpretations galore. Yet, no one really knows…only the Designer, Creator and Architect knows. Yet, we believe. We have faith.

The wonderful Christian author James Packer writes about this dilemma in his book, “Your Father Loves You.” He says: “We know very little about heaven, but I once heard a theologian describe it as ‘an unknown region with a well-know inhabitant,’ and there is not a better way to think of it than that.”

Richard Baxter, the 17th century Puritan expressed the thought in these lines: "My knowledge of that life is small, the eye of faith is dim, but it's enough that Christ knows all, and I shall be with him."

To those who have learned to love and trust Jesus, the prospect of meeting him face to face and being with him forever is the hope that keeps us going, no matter what life may throw at us…and, not so ironically, especially when life ends.

Perhaps it was Ira Stanphill who understood it best:

I don't know about tomorrow, I just live from day to day.

I don't borrow from its sunshine, for its skies may turn to gray.

I don't worry o'er the future, for I know what Jesus said,

And today I'll walk beside Him, for He knows what is ahead.

Many things about tomorrow, I don't seem to understand;

But I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand.

Well, guess this is the end…for this newsletter…


Steve and Missy