Death

So I just read a very encouraging passage in 1 Thess 4:13-18:

^"13But 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.

 ¹⁴For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.

 ¹⁵For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

 ¹⁶For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

 ¹⁷Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

 ¹⁸Therefore comfort one another with these words."

Now, I've always known this, but to read it in this form is just so uplifting. To think about my loved ones who have passed meeting me in the Heavens and living eternally with God is one of the most comforting thoughts in life. I can't help but think of my dear brother, Joshua Taliaferro who died January 10, 2009. I miss him so much and feel indescribable hurt every time I notice the lack of his presence...every time I'm having Christmas with the family, or when I'm at church camp, or when I just have something I'd like to tell him SO badly, I feel the empty hole he left tugging on my heart. It's all selfishness though. I just miss him in my life, but I know that he is a step ahead of me on his path to Heaven. I can feel him every time I take the Lord's supper. I know that I can commune with him in that moment, and that it is a simple glimpse of how things will be when I meet him in the sky with our Lord.

 I wrote this a few months after his death...I've only shared it with a handful of people. Though it was appropo for this entry! Enjoy!:

(side note: Repose Room B was the name of the room his body was in for viewing...and ignore the baaaaad punctuation. I don't feel like editing it!)

As I walked into Repose Room B 
Our family stood around
Your brother’s hand in mine
Our faces were all they saw 
But your face was in our eyes
Only for a second could we focus in
On the sight we weren’t prepared to see.
Your body without your soul
It wasn’t you, I knew beforehand
But still I hung my head in disbelief
The finest of creams and powders
Framed the face that we still knew.
Prepared for your last performance,
You lay there ready to take the final stage.
You looked so peaceful
As if you were sleeping,
Ring on your finger, harmonica in hand,
I waited quietly for you to sit up
But you were still
I knew I caught you breathing,
But you were still.
I wanted my tears to flow like oceans,
But I could not help but smile.
What a day to celebrate. 
What a new day of birth.
All around me sobbed 
As I dreamt of where you were.
No disbeliever could utter
That you were not with your Lord.
No untamed lips could speak a word
Of hell or nothingness.
The moment I realized that 
Glory was in your sight
Was the moment I realized 
We didn’t cry for you,
But for the life you gave us,
For the souls you could have saved,
The children you could have made,
The wife you left for us,
The clothes in your closet,
The books on your shelves,
The words you never spoke,
And the passion still inside you.
We wept for us, and our new lives
Without you.
You do sleep, my brother,
In the peace of God,
In restful bliss.
You will sit up one day
When we meet again with you.
You breathe the breath of heaven now.
The tears we shed for you on earth
Will cease when we start anew,
When we reach the golden shore 
Where the winds of heaven 
Will dance around us,
And the holiness of the Lord 
Will wash away the memories
Of Repose Room B.

but the one that i like best- he sings inside my chest… 
i hear my master’s voice now… 
calling out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYVssLSrESk