Adjustment

I must admit that as I rise this morning, I'm not doing so well, but I know I can get there. I thought maybe I would bring you along on my little therapeutic journey to feeling better.

You see, yesterday was Memorial Day and as I stood with my Patriot Guard family at the Veterans Cemetery, midst the sea of white crosses, little flags and plastic flowers it began to soak in again just how much pain and loss has been experienced in this experiment known as America.

In addition, there was another funeral we were asked to attend yesterday for a man who had been an MP in WWII. Ends up I knew this man, I had worked with him on many funerals as he had been a funeral director as well. I had already too many plans to be able to attend in person, but he and his family were not far from my mind.

Today at 1:00 we will be standing for yet another man who served his country well. A medic in Vietnam, imagine all the carnage and fear he experienced, yet he came home and managed to live a full life and raise a family.

If that's not enough, Friday morning a brave little lady only a year older than myself finally won her bitterly contested battle with cancer, today she stands victorious on the streets of God holding hands with Jesus. But for those left behind whose life was in taking care of their wife, mother, sister, daughter, etc. there is a gaping wound. Her service will be tomorrow morning. Then I was notified yesterday, that a dear sweet lady who had been afflicted with Alzheimer's for a very long time had gone on home. Her service will be later in the week.

Yes, in the ministry we are exposed to more than our share of funerals, but honestly sometimes it can be a struggle. On those days, I find that I have allowed myself to become too much a part of this present age and I remind myself of a very important quote.

C.S. Lewis said...

I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country,
which I shall not find 'til after death;
I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside;
I must make it the main object of life
to press on to that other country
and to help others to do the same

Those words bring me back to the realization that it's not about what happens here. We are here now and of this we are fully involved, but there is more...much more. As I grow older I am amazed at how quickly time passes, maybe that's why the words to the last verse of Amazing Grace has recently become so important to me.

When we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days, to sing God's praise than when we first begun.

In heaven (our true home) there will be not waste, no spoil, no loss. Time will not exist so we will always have plenty, we will never lose anyone, nor will there be any sorrow. Are you looking forward to our true country? Are you a citizen of that fine land? That fact alone is what keeps me keeping on. Praise God!