A Precious Homegoing

by Kelly

Psalm 116:15

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

Precious.

Precious in His sight. But praise the Lord, sometimes He gives us a tiny glimpse of His sight and we get a small taste of the preciousness.

Dear Jonah and Hannah,

Your father and I experienced something precious this week. We watched the homegoing of daddy's "Grams." She was your great-grandmother. She was 93 years young. Your memories of her are obviously limited, but we have a few memories that are too precious not to record.

First, Grams was a serious pray-er. Before your father and I were ever married, I remember hearing people at church talk about his grandparents and how they were such amazing people. They would always mention how it was so neat to listen to them pray. They made a habit of talking to God and they became rather good at it. People loved to listen to both Grams and Gramps pray out loud. Their prayer life, no doubt, reflected their intimate walk with the Lord. In all the years you have been around, Grams has suffered from Alzheimer's, so her words rarely made any sense to you. For a number of years now, her words have made little sense to anyone. But on a few occasions, even in these later years, she has been know to break into a prayer mid conversation. Amazingly, she goes from speaking gibberish into a clear-as-day prayer. She ends her prayer with "in the name of our precious Lord Jesus, Amen," then it's back to gibberish. Precious.

Grams had a sense of humor. She laughed often. She laughed at herself. She could make others laugh. She had a quick wit. (Of course, I have never met anyone on your father's side of the family who doesn't have a quick wit. Must be in the genes. Lucky you.) There was one particular conversation she had with your Gramps that gave us the giggles. (First let me make the disclaimer that Grams was from a different generation from us and sometimes older generations suffer from the remnants of an era of racial prejudices. Grams had no hatred or spite toward other races, but sometimes her lingo reflected the generation with which she grew up.) One Sunday afternoon, Grams was watching football at Gramps and Mimi's house. One of the players took off his helmet and Grams expressed that she was shocked that "that man is a black man." Gramps quickly responded with, "you know mom, black people will be in heaven too." Her response was "well, maybe when they get to heaven they will be white." Gramps then rebuffed with "maybe when we get to heaven we will be black." She just shook her head and laughed. Precious.

You kids had a precious response to the news of her impending home going. When I informed you that she was dying, I was quick to point out that it was okay because she had Jesus as her Savior. I also told you that her husband was already in heaven and he would be happy to see her again. I couldn't help but smile when Hannah said, "oh yes! He will be so happy to see her! He will say 'come here, I love you!' smooch smooch smooch" You even acted out the hugging and kissing part as you explained what you thought would happen. Precious.

Finally, Jonah and Hannah, you must know and learn from the response of Mimi and Gramps. They were about a week into their trip to Israel when they found out that Grams was in the hospital and not doing well. In fact, it was the very day they visited our Savior's empty tomb that they got the news of her condition. They prayed. They trusted the Lord. They knew His timing was perfect. As they boarded the plane from Israel to return home, they were aware that Grams was (as the doctor's described) "actively dying." She died shortly after their plane took off. Your father and I sent this email to them:

As far as we can tell, just as your plane lifted off from the holy land, Grams lifted off to the Holy Land. There never was a smoother departure/arrival.

When they arrived in the States and got the message, we got this text:

Just read your last email. Precious.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

Precious in our sight as well. Praise the Lord.

Much love,

Mom and Dad