From Death into Life….

How can a day begin so beautifully and then suddenly the light is turned off? It is difficult for my eyes to be accustomed to the shadow in my life. My heart is burdened for Uncle Eli’s family as they walk in darkness of mourning. One cousin wrote, ‘My Uncle Eli’ – he was all our Uncle Eli. We loved him so!

My day was planned, I checked Facebook, and read the message from Uncle Eli’s grandson. — Rest in peace, grand father, you’ve plowed your last round. We’ll take care of the rest.

Not my Uncle Eli, I thought. I checked other cousins’ pages, and then I knew. It was true. Just a few days and two years ago, Aunt Edna died.

After I cried and mourned for myself – I will miss him – I began to think about the blessed life Uncle Eli has lived. Uncle Eli, born nine years after Mom, grew up on a farm in central Kansas. A farm whose rich black dirt fed the family, was blessed by God. Uncle Eli knew every contour of each field, and guided, first horses and then tractors with plows, harrows, planters and harvesters in season.

I remember the smell of the fields on Uncle Eli and his brother, Jonas, as they came in from doing the chores in the evening. They were hungry, full of laughter and love for life.

Uncle Eli’s life revolved around God, his wife and family and the land he farmed. A gentle soft-spoken man who sang God’s praises in a beautiful tenor voice. How we will miss him.

Uncle Eli was released from this life in such a sweet way, sitting in a chair after a good breakfast – at peace.

What a reunion is going on in Heaven. He is reunited with his wife, and his baby son, Larry Dean. He is walking over the fields of Heaven, wondering what crops would be best to grow! He is visiting with his Mom and Dad, and the little ones, Gerhard, Daniel, Paul and Hilda who were on this earth only a short time before him. He is with his brother Jonas and with his sisters, Alma, Anna and Bernice. And best of all He has come face to face with our Lord Jesus.

In our sadness, how can we not rejoice in the promises of God? Our lives don’t stop when we stop breathing, but just begin. Death is the beginning of eternity….where there is no pain, no tears or death. And as his granddaughter said, The old has become new. Today Grandpa knows and is fully known.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

Uncle Eli has crossed over the divide and is with the Lord. The lyrics of the song, “I Can Only Imagine”, echoes in my heart on this day!

I can only imagine

What it will be like

When I walk

By your side

I can only imagine

What my eyes will see

When your face

Is before me

I can only imagine

Mercy Me