Tuesday, March 29, 2011

There is a Season...

A Time for Everything
 "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing...."   Eccl. 3:1-5

This past Sunday, Mar. 27, 2011, we celebrated the birthday of our youngest grandchild, Maddilyn Rose.  There were over 50 friends and family members present at our local Pietro's Pizza and we all enjoyed helping the little gal celebrate her special day.  The pizza was good too!



As we sat and watched this youngest family member tear into her first birthday cake, my thoughts turned to the celebration we had attended just the day before.  It too was a celebration, but of a different kind.  It was the Celebration of Life for my oldest brother, John, who had just turned 60 on Jan. 23.  He passed away quietly in his sleep 2 weeks before, as a result of multiple health issues.

Almost 19 years ago, John received a donated kidney to replace his two which were failing, and at less than 7% function.  The kidney was still functioning fine, but other issues had cropped up in recent years and ultimately took his life.

In recent years, John had become increasingly aware of his own mortality.  In many discussions with him, often around a campfire or in the truck making the trip over the mountains to hunt or shoot, it became apparent that he had not forgotten the Bible teaching he had received as a youth.  His path in life wandered to and fro, exploring avenues that caught his attention or even waylaid him for a period of his life.

However, in his final years, I think that John acknowledged that most of the wandering about was his own meandering and not the path that would lead him to a final eternal destination in the presence of his Savior.  He did not make a big fanfare of his realization, in fact found it difficult to talk about, but there were windows into his thinking now and then that revealed his heart's direction.

The last such conversation on the topic was back in July of 2010.  We had been camped with a group of fellow outdoor related sports enthusiasts.  At the end of the long weekend, folks loaded up gear and headed home.  John and I were the last ones in camp, doing the final clean-up detail of our location on the edge of a beautiful meadow situated in the Ochoco Forest.



As we cleaned up the area and made sure that the campfire was indeed out, John brought up the topic of spiritual things.  We talked for well over an hour and then some more on the way home.  What became apparent in the conversation was that John had been thinking seriously about his afterlife.  His daughter, Kelly, approached the subject more directly, however.

She very pointedly ask him if he had made peace with God.  John was a bit flustered, stating that it was a highly personal question, but eventually affirmed that he had indeed done so.  He further stated that he thanked God every day for the life he had been given.

As we celebrate both new beginnings, as in the birthday party of our youngest grandchild, Maddi, and the closure of an earthly sojourn, as in John's Celebration of Life, all in the same weekend, the circle of life becomes complete.  We once again remember the words of the author of Ecclesiastics when he wrote,
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot..." 

Incidentally, Saturday, March 26, the day we said good bye to John for a time, was also the 2 year anniversary of my father's passing in 2009.

So...  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Maddi, and John, we will catch up to you later, on down the trail a ways....