i leave in a few minutes to go do the funeral of tommy (the man I mentioned a few entries back). He’s been dying for the past two weeks and wednesday morning he past away. he died with his wife holding his hand an a good friend right besides him. within 30 minutes after his death their house was swarmed with relatives and friends, i know because I made it over there while many of them were there. they were given two weeks in which to say “good-bye”, tell old stories, and comfort each other by remembering tommy’s life. while i don’t really want to die as young as tommy did (he was in his late fifties) i do think that if you have to go that�s the way to go.
of course, his death is much easier for them to handle because they know it’s not the end of the road. i’ve been around the deaths of enough non-believers to know that pain and frustration. the worry about what’s next. i’ve been asked “where is he” and all i�ve been able to say is that those who trust JESUS CHRIST as their LORD are with HIM. of course, in those situations i was fairly sure that JESUS was not the deceased LORD, but i wasn�t going to tell them that. I just stated the facts and let them take care of the rest. i hate funerals like that. of course, tommy’s will be different. i know where he stands and he stands with JESUS.
scripture says . . .
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord�s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18