It Happened...Again

“Death where is your victory?  Death, where is your pain?  Death’s power to hurt is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But we thank God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”   1 Corinthians 15:56-57

It happened again – death.  It came unexpected.  Unwanted.  But it did not care.  It still came, leaving behind pain, heartache, tears, and emptiness.  The image forever etched in my head, playing over and over again like a horror movie that will not end.  The tears flowed.  The family devastated.  Heaven opened and received one of its own.

I sat with my brother and nieces as my sister-in-law, my brother’s wife and my nieces’ mom and grandma began this unexpected journey of letting go of this world and entering into the next place.  The tears.  The shock.  The pain.  The letting go.  Giving permission to go but wanting to hang on to life.  The conversations.  Time seeming to stand still and feeling so surreal.  Wanting life to slow down but too difficult to stay in this intense emotion.

I began this week officiating at the funeral of a retired trooper’s wife who was a friend.  We celebrated her life and shared memories together.  Her life focused on caring for her husband who is also beginning the journey of letting go of this world.  I ended the week with the death of my sister-in-law.  In between, I counseled those walking the journey of grief and loss.  Death leaves a powerful sting, pain and hurt in our lives.  The death of a person, a relationship, a dream, a hope, a life.  They are all a type of death.

As I walk the journey of death with others, my personal experiences replay in my mind.  It is a picture that will never leave my mind and heart.  Those last moments with our loved one is forever cemented in our mind.  Some of us had the privilege of being with our loved one and witnessing the last breath.  It is a very holy moment when Heaven opens and receives one of its children.  Many times, a person’s eyes open and fix not on things on earth, but on things in Heaven.  They look beyond those around them. I believe they begin to see the spiritual world and see Jesus.  Many people reach and become restless as they let go of this body and release the last of their energy.  They use up themselves.

We come to a place where we do not want our loved one to continue to be in pain and to suffer and we pray for them to let go.  We even give them permission to let go, but in our hearts, we want them to stay.  We do not want them to leave us.  We cannot image life without them.  We pray for God’s will.  We pray for a miracle.  We pray for healing.  Every time God heals.  Some time the healing is physical, and other times the healing is perfect releasing our loved one from this world of pain and suffering. 

Death does not have the final word.  God does.  God has given us victory over death through the death of his Son, Jesus.  Jesus conquered death and paid the debt we owe giving us hope and eternal life through Him.  Yes, we may know and accept Jesus’ victory over death, but death still comes.  It still brings pain, heartache, and a deep loneliness.  Death changes life.  Life is so different when death enters our lives.  But death is not the end.  It is the beginning of eternal life.  We trust our faith and live in this hope.  I believe that is the only way we can even survive when we experience the death of our loved one.  We hold on to the hope of Heaven.  We feel the emptiness of life, but we also have the hope that our loved one is perfect and at peace with Jesus.  We also have the hope that we feel their love and spirit within us forever.

Death.  It happens over and over again.  It will always hurt.  It will always bring tears and heartache.  But it will always bring hope and victory through Jesus.

“O victory in Jesus, my Savior forever!

He sought me and bought me

With his redeeming blood;

He loved me ere I knew him,

And all my love is due him;

He plunged me to victory

Beneath the cleansing flood.”