Thoughts From a Random Mind

              My wife and I went to a funeral Thursday night. Her Aunt Frances had passed away. Funerals are peculiar in a way. Family and friends congregate near the casket discussing what’s new with their lives. The only time you see some extended family members is at funerals, weddings or family reunions, with the first two being the more frequent meeting venues. It’s kind of surreal in a way. People share the myriad of problems they’re dealing with while the deceased lies so serene, one hand on top of the other, resting comfortably on their chest. Aunt Frances looked peaceful. My understanding is that her spirit and soul had already left their body. So the lifeless body is truly just a flesh tent to house said spirit and soul. Where is Frances? Is she standing in a large white room waiting for her name to be called like sitting patiently in a waiting room of some sort? Is her soul and spirit in some sort of limbo until the final trump is sounded (1 Corinthians 15:52)? I don’t know for sure. What I do know is what scripture tells us… that the final trump shall sound and the dead in Christ shall rise first, to be followed by the rest of God’s family. Heaven is no doubt a very peaceful place.  No angst. No pain. None of life’s little frustrations. No problems to deal with, not to mention no longer have to take all the prescriptions we now take.  From scripture we can see that Jesus is a very peaceful man. And we will be with him forever. I look forward to eternity with Christ even more than retirement, which is coming within the next few years.

            If only we could remove negative emotion from our behavioral database, but unfortunately we can’t.  The Lord wants us to be at peace without a care in the world just like the person in the casket. That may sound like an odd comparison, but that is what the Lord can provide… peace that passes all earthly understanding (Phil. 4:7). The world knows nothing of it. They fret and stress and drive themselves to distraction, but nothing changes. Prayer changes things, not fretting. Lasting peace and eternal hope come thru our relationship with the Lord and no other way. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing! rlkeller