Time to Go
Two weeks ago we had settled in our recliners to watch a UNC basketball game when my phone rang and a friend asked to speak to Deke. She had seen a barrage of flashing lights and heard sirens one street over in her neighborhood and realized it was a friend's home. She called our friend who answered and said her husband had just had a heart attack and died and she wanted Deke to come. We were able to be there in 5 minutes.
Seven hours earlier I had visited a couple from church and held the hand of the husband who is now with hospice and nearing his journey home. We do not know the day God will choose to call us home, but it is approaching. Both of these women maintained a countenance and peace that showed they know the Lord.
A couple years ago I wrote a program called "A Gracius Exit - How to Make End of Life Plans that Make It Easier on Your Loved Ones." I just pulled up the introduction.
Eternity will not be long enough to learn all He is, or to praise him for all he has done, but then, that matters not; for we shall be always with him, and we desire nothing more.
Frederick William Faber (1814-1863) English hymn writer and theologian
On a pine table in our family room sits a thought provoking sign: “The best is yet to come!”
This good time will occur when we pass out of mortality into immortality and see Jesus face to face.
Now all we can see of God is like a cloudy picture in a mirror.
Later we will see him face to face. We don’t know everything,
but then we will, just as God completely understands us.
1 Corinthians 13:12 (CEV)
My husband is a fun loving joke teller. As a pastor, the congregation comes expecting a laugh at some point. Sometimes he will share a joke and there is no response and he realizes, “They didn’t get it.”
There is so much about God we just “don’t get” this side of heaven, but one day when all earthly sorrow and pain pass away, we will get it! We will get what it means to see Jesus, who paid it all for us, face to face FOREVER!
As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness;
when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.
Psalm 17:15 (ESV)
Oh how I love that will we “be satisfied”. God created us with a sense of longing so that we would seek Him and find our way home.
It’s not our righteousness that allows us to make the journey from earth to heaven and finally see the face of God; it is our right standing and relationship with the Father through what his Son, Christ, has done for us. Oh, the peace that passes understanding that comes from a faith like this!
I’ve had the privilege of being with several believers as they passed away. When my father was nearing death he did two impactful things. One day he pointed to the window and said, “Look at the choir. They are singing “Faith of our Fathers.” Two days before he died, he was lying in his bed and he reached both of his arms up and out into the space in front of him just as if he was opening his arms to embrace someone. I don’t know if he saw Jesus or my Mama, but it was a beautiful picture.
A friend was driving her mother along the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC, when her mother startled seeing something. The next thing my girlfriend knew was her mother was grabbing the car door wanting to get out and go to whatever she saw. Then she took her last breath and left this earth. My girlfriend has headed to heaven as well now.
Another friend’s father was a pastor and had a heart attack while preaching. She was in the choir loft and ran to where he was lying. He looked at those who were surrounding him and said, “Go quickly and tell, I see Jesus!”
One of the most amazing end of life stories occurred when our daughter was a young teenager. She had begun playing the folk harp at eight years old, but by twelve had progressed and played a beautiful gold concert harp. It was Christmas Eve and the wife of our church’s music director was in the hospital, so we took the harp there so our daughter could play for her. Afterwards she shared that a woman who had been our church’s organist years before was actively dying a few floors below and asked if our daughter would go play for her. We rolled the harp down to that room. A private duty nurse was by this woman’s bedside and explained she had been in a coma the past week and had not spoken at all, but it was fine to play the harp. As our daughter began playing hymns on that harp, this woman, in her coma, began singing every lyric perfectly. I get chill bumps even now typing this. That very night, she went to see Jesus.
We will all exit this earth one day. It's the most important trip we can prepare for.
The Song
"Face to Face" Zach Williams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23rNa6yoIHg
