We have just returned from England where we attended the funeral of my husband's 96-years-old father. `Pop', as we lovingly called him, died in his own home exactly as he had prayed he would. He lived alone, and had been cooking his usual fish and potatoes when his best friend felt a strong urge to go across the street to see him. It was dinner time, and her visits were always in the mornings.
When she arrived, she realized Pop was not well. She phoned his daughter and they thought it best to get his doctor. Pop went to his bedroom to lie down and, when the doctor arrived, they phoned the hospital to get a room. While they were phoning, they all heard a death rattle coming from his room, and Pop's life was over.
We remembered how, each time we visited him, he would make it so easy to part as we returned to Canada. We always wondered if we would ever see him alive again, but he would point to heaven and say, "if I don't see you again down here we'll meet up there." He would smile warmly and give us a big hug as we left. We knew he meant what he had said. He had no fear of death, but was assured of a home in heaven with the Jesus he loved and talked to as his best friend.
For us, it was a sudden call to a funeral. We telephoned our friends and relatives, and many said they would pray for us. Once again we felt the power of prayer as we went over, assisted with clearing out his home and making funeral arrangements. The Pastor in charge of the funeral asked my husband if he would read the scripture and say a few words, and my husband agreed. Both my husband and I knew this would be impossible without help from above as they had been very close to one another.
The scripture was the usual one for funerals, "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." (John 14:1- 2)
Then my husband turned to Luke 24 and began to read what the angels told the women who were looking for Jesus' body, "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen!" (Luke 24:5-6) Struggling for composure, my husband stood beside the casket and announced, "Pop is not here; he is risen!" He then proceeded to tell of Pop's great faith and told everyone present there was no other but the Christian faith which could give us peace in burying our dead. He admonished all present to follow Jesus.
As my husband spoke, he related later that the Pastor who was sitting behind him whispered a constant "Praise you Jesus", without which my husband said he would have been unable to finish speaking. We discovered after the funeral that the Pastor has received the Holy Spirit baptism and is a member of Morris Cerullo's world-wide `God's Army' as we are!
Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live " (John 11:25). The tremendous life power which broke open the tomb that first Easter morning lives within every true Christian today and is the power by which Pop will be resurrected to be with Jesus. It is the same power which enabled my husband to speak with such confidence beside his beloved father's coffin.
Only the power of a resurrected Jesus can overcome death. Only Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, can save us from our sin and carry us safely over to the other side.
We thank Him for Pop's life, a life which was able to rise above difficult circumstances and end in such grace and beauty within the care of a loving Creator.
May we, too, pursue such a faith so that when our life ends we will know beyond a doubt that death is not the end, but only the beginning!
© 1999, Doreen Palmer