Death is Not Final

Today as I stood at the foot of the graves of both of my parents, it felt surreal.  For the past almost 6 years, my dad has stood there with me, looking down on the grave of my mom, his wife of 52 years.

As I stood there alone today, he lay next to her, finally with her again. I took comfort in that.

As you can tell from the headstone, he’s been there for a little over 4 months.

But today they put the date of death on the pink marble stone he picked for her, though she had told him that she wanted it match her parents, who lay to her right.

His name and birth date have been there for almost 6 years.

The vase where flowers would be has been there, too.

But today, they stamped into stone the day he left this world.

Marked for all to see that he was no longer with us.

It just made things too “official”.  Too real.

I know where he is today.  I know he is with Jesus, worshipping our Savior Face to face.

No more tears, dying or pain there.

There, not here.

Here, there are still tears.

Here, there are still people dying.

Here, there is still pain.

But the real comfort is that Jesus is here, too.

No, we can’t see Him like my parents can right now.

But we can see evidence of His presence and His love for us.

We cling to His promise that He will come back one day to get all believers and take us home.

Oh, what a day that will be……….