Goodbye Grandpa

1 Thessalonians 4:13 13. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.

On Friday the 13th, 2023 I lost my grandpa. The patriarch of my moms family, and my last remaining grandparent. This is something that most people go through, and a burden that we all unfortunately share is that of loss. There was sadness when I was told the news and there were tears in the coming days.

Over the last several years since I lost my grandmother on my fathers side I have grown in my relationship with God. Not that He had drawn any closer to me, but that I had stopped moving away from Him. This loss of my grandpa has been so different to me than any other loss I have experienced thus far. As I mentioned a moment ago I did have the typical response of sadness, I did cry, and it did hurt, but one thing that was made abundantly clear to me almost immediately after being informed of his passing, was that because of the Lord, this time would be different.

You see, things have changed since I last lost somebody whom I loved. I have grown in knowledge of the character of God, and of the promises He has made to those who are His children. My grandfather was gone yes, but he was not finished. 2 Corinthians 5:8 states, "we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.". Paul tells us here that when we are no longer here in our body we are in the presence of our King. And not only that, but to be absent from here and present with God is is an even greater thing. I now understand that is where my grandpa is, he stands before our King, and he has had his Matthew 25:23 moment.

Death is never easy, and death will always be painful. But the hope that comes in death is a hope that is offered only to those who know Christ. My grandpa knew Him, my grandpa had done as Romans 10:9 says and declared with his mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and he believed in his heart that God would raise him from the dead, and because of this he was saved. I sit here today believing this with every aspect of my being. I believe in the promises of my God more than I believe in the presence of the air that I am currently breathing. My Father has said it to be therefore it is. The hope that we as believers are offered in these times of sadness is a hope that cannot be taken from us. It is a hope imperishable, it is a hope that stands until and even through death.

So today, where many would be broken, where many would be hopeless, and where many would be in despair, I cannot help but praise my God. He has been so good to me, and he holds my grandpa in His arms, free of pain, free of confusion, and praise God, free of sin.

1 Corinthians 15:54–55. 54. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”