Observations.net

I offered the following prayer at my father's funeral on December 22, 2018:

Lord,

Thank you for a life well lived. Our father loved You and he loved his wife and children. He worked hard to care for his family. He was a man of generosity and kindness, of Christian spirit who always thought of others.

He grew up in poverty in Arkansas. His family struggled and was sometimes homeless. He adored his mother, who held the family together. Our father attempted to join the navy at the beginning of WW II. But he was too young to join without his parents' consent, and his mother said, No. But he was later drafted into the army, and fought in WW II. He served in the army corps of engineers in the European theater.

At the end of WW II, he returned to civilian life. He held a variety of jobs, and was a logger in Indiana for a while. He would then move to Kansas City to find work. He lived in a boarding house. He even attended a dance school run by friends, where he met our mother. He courted her and married her, and the rest is history.

But he is now with You, His Savior, in Your grace and care. He is reunited with our mother Ruby to whom he was married for 61 wonderful years. I’m sure he smiled so bright when he saw her, his bride. He is with his grandson Nathan, whom we lost too soon. Our father is once again with his beloved mother Cora, and is walking with his brothers Dick, Major, and Burl, and his sister Lucille. They are a family again in Heaven. And someday too, we will meet them.

Our father’s 97-year old body was weak and tired and finally gave out. His body is now placed in the grave, but that is not the end.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And You, O Lord, You told us:

… have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spakecunto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?

He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living

Thank You Lord Jesus that we remain forever alive with You. You are not the God of the dead, but You are the God of the living. For You said to us:

I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

Our father lives with You. Nathan lives with You. We shall live with You.

Thank You Lord Jesus that You are a God of kindness and graciousness toward us. You love our father and You are happy to have him with You. Thank You Lord Jesus that we too someday will also be with You, and with him, and with Nathan, and with all our family, forever. Amen