Joy in Mourning

Posted on April 5, 2018 by Lynn

griefI couldn’t help but think as I wrote yet another card of sympathy, that I have attended more funerals this year than birthdays.  I then thought it must be another sign of getting older, but that’s not the case at all.  In January we attended a funeral for my husband’s aged aunt.  She was ninety-nine years old and had lived a long and happy life.  Only a few weeks later, we celebrated the life of a friend who leaves behind a wife and three children, the youngest child only eight years old.  There was such an unfairness with which cancer riddled our friend’s body.  Too soon taken from us.  This past week, one of my former students, a brilliant boy, only twenty-two years old decided to end his own life.  I am still coming to grips with the tragic loss of such a wonderful young man.

There is such a sense of unfairness when death comes too soon.  We are left perplexed by the cold, finality of death.  Its grip on each one of us is a certainty.  We can’t escape its clutch but how dismally we mourn its wrath.  Still, as a Christ Follower, we should mourn differently than those who have no Hope.  “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13.

I won’t forget the words spoken by the Pastor this week as he spoke to over six hundred gathered for the young man’s funeral: “Some may wonder if he is in heaven.  I don’t want you to ask that question, but ask whether YOU will be!”

The entire service was dedicated to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who had come to mourn.  I witnessed a grieving family who exemplified joy in mourning.  Their Hope is found in Jesus and despite their personal tragedy, they shared openly how they feel His presence and His comfort during this time of great sorrow.

Old age, cancer, disease, accidents, violence and in the case this week: deep depression robs us of our loved ones too soon.  All life is precious and when death comes, no matter the cause, we grieve.  It is understandable.  However, I do grieve differently than someone who is not a Christ Follower.  I am thankful that one day I will be in the presence of my Saviour in a place where there is no mourning or grief.  When I die, I will go to a place of blessed reunion with those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus.  Heaven will be my new Home.  I have that Hope.

Do you?

 

 

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Celebrate Jesus Daily

Posted on March 28, 2018 by Lynn

Celebrate Jesus DailyI love a good party!  I enjoy celebrating birthdays, weddings and attending bridal and baby showers.  I love all kinds of celebrations at home and at church, but none are more special than celebrating my relationship with Jesus Christ!

My living room and dining room are decorated with bunnies and colourful eggs this week.  I have a few baskets filled with Easter treats for each of my grandbabies.  They will participate in several Easter egg hunts this weekend, hosted by community and church groups.  To offset all the commercialism of the season, I have the Resurrection Eggs ready when we gather for Easter dinner as a family. The eggs are a unique but effective way of telling the story to my grandchildren of Jesus and His great sacrifice for us all. On Good Friday, we will participate in The Walk of the Cross and we will join the faithful to walk the stations of the Cross on the main street of our small town.  It is something we have done for many years and it is always an impactful experience.  Then on Sunday morning we will gather with our church family to celebrate the resurrection of Christ by worshipping together and proclaiming, “He Is Risen!”

On Tuesday, after the time of gathering and celebrating Easter with family and friends, I will put away the decorations again, just like I do with Christmas decorations each year, and things will once again return to normal…

What?  Back to normal?

If we go back to “normal” after celebrating Christmas and Easter we’ve missed the point entirely about both celebrations.

Those who truly experience the life-changing significance of celebrating Christmas and Easter, should never return to a normal, routine existence again.  Oh, the decorations can be put away, but the celebrations should continue every single day!  You see, as much as the world wants us to secularize both events, it’s not about Easter Bunnies, or Santa Claus or tinsel on trees and baskets filled with chocolate eggs.  Christmas is about celebrating the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and Easter is about His dying on the Cross, taking the sin of this world upon His shoulders so that we may be redeemed!  It’s about Jesus overcoming death by rising three days after His crucifixion thereby giving all believers hope for eternal life if we put our faith and trust in Him.  The greatest Birth, the greatest Man in history, the greatest Story ever told cannot be condensed into a few days of celebrating in December and a weekend in early Spring.  If we just celebrate Him on those days, we have missed the mark.

I don’t want my life to return to a normal routine after Christmas and Easter.  I want to remember how incredibly blessed and thankful I am to be a follower of Christ each and every day!  I want the party to go on and on!  I want to rejoice daily in the knowledge that I have been Saved!  I want to share with the world that I have the Hope of eternal life!  That is cause for great celebration, and if my old body could do cartwheels to express my enthusiasm about everything Jesus has done for me, I would do that too!

There is so much negativity in the world today.  Too many worries and hardships that seem to take away our joy.  Christians are not immune to the negativity around us.  It weighs us all down.  However, nothing should suppress the JOY of our Salvation!  It cannot be contained!  It should never be squelched!

If you are a follower of Christ, rejoice daily!  Tell others how Jesus has changed your life!  Celebrate Jesus today, tomorrow and every day!  Let’s keep the party going!

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It All Adds Up

Posted on March 14, 2018 by Lynn

I tweeted this today:

Two great men have passed away in recent weeks: Reverend Billy Graham and Professor Stephen Hawking.  Both contributed their lifetimes to bettering the world in which they lived.  The difference was that one believed in the God of the Universe, and the other believed in the Universe without God.

BOTH have received their eternal “reward”, with one experiencing all that eternal life can offer with his Heavenly Father, and the other one eternally separated from that same God.

As tributes pour in today for Professor Hawking, there is no doubt that he was a great thinker, a great mind, and a great overcomer of his physical disabilities.  He had a marvelous outlook on life in spite of his limited physical capabilities and he had a great sense of humour.  The world of science has lost one of the greatest theoretical physicists of all time and that is undisputed.  However, despite his great intelligence, Hawking would not allow himself to believe in God, and that is his ultimate undoing.

Scripture is clear when it talks about “unbelievers”:

“They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.”  Ephesians 4:18

“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”  2 Corinthians 4:4

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.”  Romans 1:18-22

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”  John 5:24

Although I rejoiced greatly at the Homecoming that awaited Reverend Billy Graham at the end of his life, I am terribly saddened by the passing of Professor Hawking.  I hope he reconciled himself to God even moments before his passing.  Then today, he would be free of the earthly shackles that bound his body to a wheelchair and his mind to scientific method, and instead, he would have all his questions answered about the universe from the One Who created it!

But that is just wishful thinking on my part.

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