The end...

The end of life came swiftly to a 76 year old fellow named Jim Gardner last Sunday. I work with his only child, Corinne.

I didn't know him personally...as in, face to face kind of knowing. I did know him though, over phone conversations. He would phone for his daughter for this or that, (he was always making sure she was OK and helping out with his grandchildren), so when he would phone the office, he and I would have this talk for maybe 30 seconds or so. It got so that we felt we actually knew one another. He would talk about his stay at the North Side Care Home where he resided, or the weather and we both figured it would snow soon....or rain...or that it was too hot or too cold........ and we would end our conversations by making one another laugh...before I passed the phone to his daughter.

I knew he hadn't been well this past year or more. I also knew that in the past year, he had a wonderful renewal of his faith in God....was excited about it too! I would ask Corinne about her dad often, and she would update me on his physical state...and his spiritual state. Jim and I had that wonderful common bond, of knowing Christ, our Savior, and knowing where we would be going when we left this world. It made me happy to think about that.

Corinne asked me to read the 23rd Psalm at his funeral today. She said Jim would have liked that.

And so I did. But, I wanted to make it more than just a familiar, funeral piece of Scripture....King James version. With Corinne's permission, I wrote out what I had learned over the years about that Psalm...about how God is our Protector and Provider, about the author of the Psalm, Israel's 2nd King, David, who was born into a family of sheep herders. I talked about how sheep need someone to bring them along and lead them to fresh water and lush grass and places to rest. I talked for 5 minutes or so about that Psalm and I was reminded once again, just how much like a sheep I am...and all of us, actually. We have all strayed from the fold and need the Good Shepherd to gently prod us back to where we will be taken care of once again.

It was good to be able to talk about Jim and his relationship with Christ, the Good Shepherd and how he knew exactly where he was going after this life. Those kinds of things don't always happen at a funeral.

Sometimes people just don't know about getting into a relationship with God. They have either forgotten about Him or they don't have time for Him, or they have never learned anything about Him and really don't know how to go about it now. Some don't believe at all, nor do they wish to. Sometimes it is death that actually makes us think more on spiritual things and we come away with a sliver of hope for life after death.

I always say, as someone has said before, "it's better to believe and find out there is no heaven, than not believe, and find out there is." It's not the reason I believe, but I think the saying has some merit.

It is a difficult road, being a Christian. Life is not always easy or fun or fulfilling or joyful, even with a Good Shepherd leading us. There are things that must be learned along the way in life, hard things, like the death of someone we love. But today, I saw a family in a difficult time of their lives, who trusted in a God who cares for them, even as they face death.

Last Sunday may have been the last day on earth for Jim Gardner, but it certainly wasn't the end......

Peace to his memory.....and peace to his family in these days.