Editor’s
journey
The
reunion
SACRAMENTO, CALIF.
— While other families sliced turkey and hunted for decorated
eggs in the backyard, our family had its own Easter tradition:
My mother took us to the cemetery to lay flowers on our father’s
grave.
With her four children
by her side, Mom would peer at Dad’s gravestone and tears
would well up in her eyes. “Harold,” she’d say,
“we miss you, but one day we’ll see you again.”
She often reminded
us that our father, the victim of a drunken driver, was alive
in heaven. She would paraphrase 2 Corinthians 5:8: To be absent
from the body is to be present with the Lord. “Kids,”
she’d say, “because Jesus died on a cross and was
raised from the grave, our sins can be forgiven and we can live
forever in heaven with Jesus and your father.”
Years later I still
dream about a reunion with my Savior and my dad. I often turn
to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 and treasure God’s promise of
eternal life:
“Brothers, we
do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or
to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that
Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring
with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the
Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive,
who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede
those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down
from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel
and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will
rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will
be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord
in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (NIV).
As followers of Jesus,
we can anticipate a grand reunion with friends and family members
who also accepted God’s gift of salvation. But how mournful
it will be for those who reject Jesus as their Lord and Savior
and miss the opportunity to spend eternity with a parent, sibling
or spouse. More important, how tragic it will be to spend eternity
separated from Almighty God.
Easter is a day to
celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. It is also a time to examine
our hearts to make certain we have accepted the Lord’s invitation
to heaven’s grand reunion.
Bringing flowers to
a loved one’s grave at Easter is a meaningful gesture. But
Jesus isn’t requesting flowers. His grave is empty. He’s
asking us to commit our lives to Him today so we can live with
Him forever.
Hal Donaldson
E-mail your comments
to pe@ag.org.
