Heaven's Gate

Two years ago this morning marked the end of one of the sweetest experiences of my lifetime.  With my siblings (except for my brother Ed who had already walked through death into everlasting life) and most of our spouses, I spent ten wonderful days walking my wonderful Daddy right up to the gate of Heaven!  It was truly amazing, and a model for the death experience in a Christian family if circumstances permit.

I know circumstances don't permit in every case.  That August Saturday 23 years ago when Ed walked into Heaven, I was 3 states away and only got there after he was gone. His death taught me a lesson about death: that death (especially when it appears untimely from a human perspective) is HARD!  Ed was a Marine of Marines!  He was many other things too and my closest sib in age.  He had served in combat in many war theaters including Vietnam for 3 "tours" including one while he was still a midshipman at the US Naval Academy but that's an interesting story for another time.  He had stared death in the face with nary a scratch. 

Three weeks after he retired from the USMC he was bush-hogging his pasture on the farm where he retired with his family in NC.  He didn't know his life on this earth was almost over that Saturday morning.  He planned to begin the next phase of life with a new job and to continue building his farmhouse.  God had other plans:  the tractor turned over and crushed his chest.  He was in Heaven a few hours later. We celebrated his life and worshipped our great God who gave him life and then took it away at his memorial service a few short days later!  At the end of that service, we sang Handel's Hallelujah.  It was Hallelujah time even when it didn't feel like it!

22 years later on an August Tuesday we celebrated eternal life again at my dad's memorial service.  We sang hymns.  We were comforted with God's Word and truth as two sons-in-law pastors and another pastor led us.  We remembered a life well-lived!  For me, the memorable thing about Daddy's Heaven journey wasn't that worship service.  It was the days leading up to it.

July 26 my brother called and said Daddy had a large sub-dural hematoma (blood clot on his brain).  They were moving him to the main hospital and operating as soon as possible.  We begin the trek from Pittsburgh to SC early the next morning and went straight to ICU.  And, so it began........

Mother and Daddy were living in my sister's home.  After the surgery it became increasingly apparent that Daddy wasn't going to climb the huge mountain back to a measure of health.  It was just too steep a climb with advanced Parkinson's and all the rest!  A week later on August 1st we took him home in an ambulance with hospice. 

In the hospital and at home we were Team Robeson.  We walked shoulder-to-shoulder, heart-to-heart watching the winding down of Daddy's life on earth.  We prayed.  We sang hymns.  We cried.  We hugged.  We talked and remembered.  We said many things to Daddy and each other - those things of the heart that need words.  And, then early Sunday morning, August 5th, we all stood around his bed with our dear mother and waited at Heaven's gate for him to take that final step from this life to the next!

Death is what it is.  It was never meant to be in God's good creation.  Sin brought death.  And so, we all die.  But, for those who walk with Jesus who trust in Him ALONE, He is the Way to eternal life!  That's the comfort beyond death, and it IS enough!
*picture is from newspaper shortly after Daddy's return from war.  He is holding his Japanese sword and me.

Real Hope and Change!

Scotty Smith posted the words of the Messiah He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found. Then he observed in his post: There's no broken place Jesus' doesn't own as his.
WOW! Those words just jumped out and grabbed my heart! The flow of the effects of the curse (Genesis 3:14-24) fill the earth, all creation and into every crack and crevice anywhere!
Lately I have been "mourning" my dear Daddy's death Aug. 5. It is a HUGE loss! AND it's ALL because of the curse! There was no death and dying until there was sin! There was no pain until there was sin! There were no tears until they was sin! It stinks to the 10th power!
Jesus the Great King and Conqueror comes to make all things new! He DOES makes His blessings flow far as the curse is found!
Brokenness is the reality of life. It is found in too many forms to count! Buried in the brokenness of life is total hopelessness and impossiblity to change without Jesus the Kingly Conqueror who makes all things new! He brings real hope and change forever!

No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found,

Far as the curse is found, far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace

And makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness,

And wonders of His love, and wonders of His love, and wonders, wonders of His love.

--Isaac Watts, Joy to the World

Thank you, King Jesus, that there is NO broken place that You don't own as Yours! It's the ONLY hope for change!

Two Kinds of Thistles

It's just past noon and I've spent the last four hours on an almost perpendicular bank that goes from our front yard down about 90 feet to US 19. I've been hanging out on that bank because I have a thriving bed of thistles all along the bank and a good ways down as well. Jeepers creepers! Why is it that weeds seem to grow so strong and multiply so rapidly especially when they are not invited guests in and among my flowers, trees and shrubs on that same bank?

I needed the right tools for my morning project - heavy gloves, a 10-tinned pitchfork, a big wheelbarrow and a good dose of energy and determination! And for all that, I know that at least some thistles will reappear.
I know Genesis 3:17-18 says, Cursed is the ground ... It will produce thorns and thistles for you ..." God spoke those words in judgment not blessing! Those thistles I wrestled all morning are there as a result of sin! I was thinking about that as I tried to dig out each plant with its ridiculous roots.
Actions have consequences. I know that the thistles I managed to get all the root probably, hopefully will not return any time soon or ever. I also know that I probably - almost certainly - didn't get every last smidgen of root. Those roots will sooner rather than later make their thistle presence known.
When I googled "how to get rid of thistles" one solution offered was to chop them off and keep mowing and chopping until the roots would weaken and die. I have a feeling that's not going to work but I can always hope!
There are lots of "thistles" in life; these don't grow in dirt. These other "thistles" are equally as difficult to weed out. There is hatred, judgment, disdain, hostility, betrayal, injustice, lying and on and on! AND interestingly these "thistles" are also the result of sin. We won't be rid of these "thistles" until Jesus brings about the restoration of all things when He makes all things new in His eternal Kingdom! However we still have to deal with these terribly damaging "thistles" with God's help! All these ugly behaviors and attitudes damage our own hearts and our relationships with others. They cause self-absorption and selfishness. They come from the brokenness sin has brought into all of life. ONLY God the eternal Gardener - who made a perfect world back at the beginning of time - can root out these "thistles" as He works His character into one heart at a time!
I don't know about you but I definitely didn't enjoy my morning on my bank among the thistles. Hopefully - if the life of God is really in me and I know it is - I enjoy the other kind of "thistles" even less! Hopefully I will turn to the ONLY One who can help me with these much more sticky "thistles"!

Pineapple-Upside-Down Cake or a Mess ?!

The other day I was saved from a mess by going back to the instructions. I almost ruined what turned out to be a pretty good pineapple-upside-down cake by trying to do it my way.

God said, “Who do you think made the human mouth? And who makes some mute, some deaf, some sighted, some blind? Isn’t it I, God?” (Exodus 4:11, The Message)

“… mute, deaf, blind … “ We call those things – disabilities. And under disability there is a LONG list! Somewhere on that long list every single living human can find items to check.

Why is there disability in our world? The quick and dirty answer is “sin.” If things weren’t broken… If the world wasn’t broken… If you and I weren’t broken … there would be no disability in our world.

But the truth is that everything is broken and flawed by sin. The truth is that ALL of us are broken and damaged by sin. Sin is ugly to the bone, that’s the truth! In the sense of being broken, we are all broken in various ways.

This isn’t a “blame game” - We are all broken so BLAME GOD! It’s rather a matter of responsibility, which God clearly takes in Exodus 4:11.

It’s also a matter of comfort: the loving, sovereign God Who could have chosen to fix everything long ago has chosen to let us be born with defects or to come to defects so that in our weakness we learn to lean on God. We learn to trust God best when we need Him! God knows that so He gives us ways and challenges that leave us few options. The best option of all is to seek His strength in our weakness no matter what our particular strain of weakness looks like!

Most of all, it’s a matter of trust! Can we trust God to be loving and good as well as powerful and wise?

Back to the pineapple-upside-down cake. I mixed the batter and prepared the melted butter in the dish. Then I almost dumped the batter in without first adding the brown sugar, pineapple and cherries. It would have been an upside down mess if I had done it my way. I was “saved” just barely by checking the recipe, and the cake turned out okay.

God wants us to follow His instructions for life. He wants us to love and trust Him. He promises to be with us. He demonstrated His love the day He sent His Son Jesus to the cross. He is the King! We can trust Him now and forever no matter what!

We can either do life our way or His! His way is always best, and my way is always a mess!