Jenna. Sep 29. John 14:1-3.
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. [New Living Translation]
My grandfather believed what Jesus said in these verses and I believe with all my heart that he is walking with Jesus right now. John was his favorite book in the Bible, and our preacher did a fantastic job of preaching about Jesus losing his great friend Lazarus. Today we laid my grandfather’s earthly body to rest in the ground, but we know that on Sunday night he woke up in Heaven with a new mind and a new body, neither one troubled with Alzheimer’s.
[By the way, the extended Stephenson family has a tradition of taking pictures of their dead inside the casket. Personally, I think that's a little creepy. This was about as far as I could go.]
Also – I took Colby to the funeral today but not to the viewing last night. He kept asking to see Grandfather’s body, but Kevin and I agreed that it would not be a good idea. Colby and Kennedy have had a lot of questions about Heaven and death.
In talking about death, we have been really careful to NOT use words such as “tired” or “sick” or “asleep”… because they get tired, sick, and fall asleep. Instead, we presented it as, “Grandfather’s body was so old and worn out; Jesus had to give him a new body in Heaven.” Colby initially reacted by saying, “I don’t want him in Heaven; I want him here with me!” :(
The past few days we’ve been driving by Hudson Creek (Alzheimer’s facility) and Kennedy will say things like, “That’s where grandfather lives, but now he’s not there he’s in Heaven.” AND “Grandfather is in my heart, just like Jesus lives in my heart.”
1 comment September 29th, 2010