Victory in Jesus

I went to a funeral today. It was for my friend's dad. Although we've never met, I felt like I knew him from the many emails she forwarded to her friends as she asked us to pray. He battled cancer for 2 years, and through the entire journey he continually spoke of his hope in Christ. 

In one of his emails, he wrote:

Now we are getting down to where the rubber meets the road, that is do I really believe the Lord is with me in my cancer journey?  In my last email I stated “He does not say we won’t have times of testing, sorrow, and tribulation, but He does say He will be there with us through it all and I firmly believe this and I know it is all according to His will.”

So yes, I am still holding to this, He is with me and He is with us all. The only problem is we sometimes move too far off and we don’t feel His presence, but He is there regardless. His being there does not depend on our position with Him but rather His position with us and that never changes, He is unchanging.

Howard impacted me through his words. Never underestimate the power of words. So I went to honor this precious man. By honoring her dad, I also honored my friend, Lori. She is one of the kindest women I know, someone who genuinely exudes gratitude. I find that a rare attribute these days, and I admire that in her. I am positive that there is a connection between who her dad was and the woman she is today.

At the service, people stood up and paid tribute to Howard's years of faithfulness. Among many things, he had served in Awana for 38 (!) years. One young man got involved as a little boy, and he is now a youth pastor. And we sang old hymns like I used to sing at the Baptist church of my girlhood. My heart lifted when we sang:

Oh, victory in Jesus, 
My Savior, forever
He sought me and He bought me
With His redeeming blood
He loved me ere I knew him
And all my love is due Him
He plunged me to victory
Beneath the cleansing blood

Cindy also went to a funeral recently. She said it was good that they had gone. "They are a part of the liturgy of life. They are the dark days that make the light ever so much brighter." 

Christian funerals are bittersweet. We grieve because we are the ones who have been left behind. But we do not grieve as those who have no hope. We rejoice in knowing our loved one is in the fullness of joy with our Savior. So we go to the funeral to express love and hope and faith and solidarity. It's a time to acknowledge the beauty and brevity of life. It's a time to remind ourselves that the petty things will one day pass away. It's a time to declare: life matters. This life and the next life. It's a time to let the victory of Christ resound once again.

"It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart." Ecclesiastes 7:2