Reunion

Several years ago, this month I attended a family reunion.  My mother’s side.  It was good to see folks I usually only see at funerals, but I have to say this. All of my cousins looked old!  I’m not sure why.  I hadn’t aged a bit.

            I was able to take my dad to the reunion.  He was quite sick at the time. He had just stopped taking treatments for cancer. The illness would eventually take his life. But he felt up to going on this day.  He was one of only two of his generation in our family still living.  One of my mother’s sisters was there, and dad was the only remaining in-law. 

            I know I’m biased, but my dad, “Uncle Junior” to my cousins, was truly one of the good ones.  Since Granny lived in a trailer on our property, they got to see him frequently. He often joined in the basketball games we played in my front yard.  He taught more than one of my cousins how to swim and a couple how to drive.

            I watched several of the girls walk away from him in tears as they realized it might be the last time they would see him.  The guys mostly suppressed the tears, but there was much sadness when we left the party.

            But I know the good news.  Dad’s days on this earth were numbered, though He actually lived two years beyond this. But we often forget that the same is true for all of us. The death rate for living is 100%.   My Dad had made a reservation for a place called heaven.  I am as confident of that as I am of anything I have ever written.

            The Bible says about God, “You have placed eternity in our hearts.” Job was simply saying that there is a longing in every human heart for more than we can see in this world, and it is there because God put it there.  We can and will live forever with Him if we have placed our trust in Him.

            More than any other thing, you need to trust the Lord.  He made you and He knows what is best for you.  You can trust Him for now and for eternity.