The End

Last year my Dad turned 58. At least, that's how old I think he is. When his birthday came around I found myself thinking about age. When you are young in life thinking about death isn't something you do often. I'm not talking about my death, but now I am getting to the age where grandparents and parents are getting older. Maybe they are having health problems or maybe they aren't. Either way, as you get older you have the, unfortunate, death factor.

My father's Dad passed away when my Dad was only 18 years old. We lived in Germany and I knew of my other grandparents but never had the opportunity to develop a close relationship. My grandmother (Mom's mom) passed when I was 12, I think. My grandfather (Mom's dad) passed away just 2 years after I got married. I have one living grandmother (Dad's mom) who is an assisted living home doing some rehabilitation with the hopes of going home in a few weeks. All of that to basically say, I was young and didn't maybe fully understand. But now a realization of immortality has arisen.

At the end of October, our church gets together for a Fall Festival. It's an alternative to allow the kids of our church and their friends to get candy without having to dress up or go out and trick-or-treat. We were sitting in the middle of devotion when my husband's phone rang. I knew it wasn't good by the look on his face. He headed to the back of the chairs and then when he came back he said we needed to go. I had overheard part of the conversation so I had come to my own conclusions. Chris's step-Grandfather had passed away. He had heart bypass surgery 8 years prior and had never been in great health since then but there wasn't any specific problems. He had sat down in his chair to watch some TV. When Grandma called for him, he didn't answer. He had gone on to heaven even though his body was still there. Grandpa was a Christian. He was saved at a young age and attended, faithfully, Macedonia Baptist Church. What a night for Grandma that must have been. She called the hospital but they wouldn't come pick him up because he had already passed. She was waiting on a coroner which took nearly 3 hours. He just sat in his chair. Family came over to help her, but there he sat. I believe he was 80 something. We saw him a few times a year but not often. He was a nice man and enjoyable to talk to and we miss him, especially at holidays.

We are all going to die. The Bible says, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement." The word "but" is followed by the more important part of the statement. Anytime you say "but" you are actually saying the most important part of what I'm about to tell you is... So, after death is the judgement. Are you ready for the judgement? We may not live to be 80, it may be 25 or 30 or 50. You never know. What if today is the day? Where will you go? There is a real heaven and a real hell.