A Kiss & A Goodbye

It seems like yesterday. It seems like forever... like a dream of something that happened long, long ago. It brings raw emotion. It brings an unexplainable calm & peace. It brings thanksgiving for the home in which I was raised & the beliefs that were lived out before me by my parents. On a Sunday (the day we had always marked as a celebration of our Lord) that October 20, 2002... at 12:10pm... my father breathed his last breath as I was sitting beside him, holding his hand. In that moment, grief & joy walked hand-in-hand... 


We'd been singing his favorite songs to him all through the night & into the morning. Mid-morning Dad had been moved from my parents' bedroom to a hospital bed that was right by the big bay window in their family room. I was in the room alone with him. I leaned over to Dad & whispered that we loved him (name by name and... "Dad, Mom loves you!" and "Dad, I love you!" I told him we'd be okay & that we'd take care of Mom. I kissed him on the forehead. I saw his face relax & a slight smile. I heard a long, gentle exhale from him... and, I felt part of me leave with that breath. The sun broke through the clouds from the bay window behind me. (And, I am NOT making that up or ANY of this up. I wrote it down that day!) My heart was broken, yet my soul rejoiced! He was a wonderful father & a wonderful man of God. My heart was encouraged. I knew that someday, we would be reunited in a time & place that has no end.

A promise I hold on to found in the Bible...

"For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words." 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18

Linked with the Nesting Place community through the write31days challenge, October 2014 - post No 20.