Remembrance - First Anniversary

My father passed away unexpectedly a year ago today (at the age of 81). He was a pastor and never retired. Three weeks before he passed, he spoke about his death in a sermon given at his church.

He said, “I don’t fear death because I know Whom I have believed and I am sure that He will hold Himself accountable to that day until He takes me into His presence.”

“I don’t fear death, but I fear dying. I wish I could be assured that I would die just by closing my eyes some night and being in Heaven before I got up the next morning. That would be wonderful.”

“I don’t know what will happen to me. You don’t either. All we know is the element of place. And all we know is . . . the Shepherd will never leave us because He wants to take us to be with Him so that we might be where He is. And we know where that is.”

God’s plans were a little different than my father’s wishes. It did happen appropriately, though. My father was serving, pastoring, being a minister. He was officiating a wedding to unite two of God’s children in holy matrimony. Afterward, there was a wedding reception — one might call it a wedding banquet. God was very gracious to my father. One minute he was there, the next he wasn’t. His heart, that he gave away so freely, stopped beating. CPR, the paramedics, and the doctors at the hospital were unable to bring him back.

As I stated last year:

Our span is seventy years,
or eighty for those who are strong.
~Psalm 90:10a

God gave him 81 strong, strong years. He is greatly missed.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord.
And let perpetual light shine upon him.
May the soul of this faithful departed one

Through the mercy of God rest in peace.
Amen.

~Kevin