As the last moments of 2023 slipped through the hourglass, my heart, and thoughts reminisced over another eventful year. In January, my mom met Jesus face-to-face. For seventy-seven of her ninety-three years, she was a faithful Christian. She and my dad were married for sixty-nine years, and all those years were spent serving God. They met at a tent revival where my dad was the evangelist, and it was love at first sight.
My dad stepped out of his earthly tabernacle and walked into heaven on Easter Sunday, 2019. He quietly slipped away about an hour after what turned out to be my last visit with him. He had been a faithful minister of the Gospel for nearly seventy years. When I was contacted about his passing, I couldn’t help but think about the day he stepped out of time into eternity. Easter Sunday is about resurrection. My dad preached about this subject; he even wrote a song about it. But on this date, he experienced resurrection in a way he could only imagine in his sermons.
My siblings are buried next to my parents. I am the only one left of what is often called the “nuclear family.” These are the ones I spent my childhood with. These are the ones I had a bond with like no other. Since my sister and brother were younger than me, I thought they would probably outlive me, especially my brother, who was six years younger, but they are gone, and I alone remain.
I have stood in countless cemeteries ministering to families who have gathered around the grave of a loved one. I almost always refer to 1 Thessalonians 4:16, “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” I remind them, as well as myself, that one day, a family and a minister will be standing in a cemetery when suddenly, the earth will begin to tremble, graves will burst open, and the dead in Christ will be resurrected.
I reflected on that recently while standing by the graves of my family, whose funerals I preached. While cemeteries are seen as sad places, the truth is, one day, they will become the launching pad for resurrection. So, instead of looking at a grave as a burial place, it’s more appropriate to think, “I’m standing on resurrection ground.” One day, the vaults, caskets, and earth that covers them will have to turn loose of their bodies. I wouldn’t mind being there that day, for the next verse says, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
Our family reunions on earth are such a blessing as we spend time with those we love most, but this family reunion will exceed them all. It will be a meeting in the air! They will have a head start on me, but I will catch up with them quickly, and what a happy reunion that will be.
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