Grief...Hope...

My heart aches for my dear friend, Rosie.  She said goodbye to her 'Lamby', Bruce today.

 He passed from this life at about 7:30 this morning, after much pain for a long time. 
He was in his forties... 

There's a dull sorrow that surrounds my soul as I reflect on love no longer given between two people. 

I am reminded of my love for Jef. 

Last year about this same time, my dear friend, Diane, lost her husband to a car accident.

Death is a thief. 

"The thief's purpose is to steal, and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness." John 10:10

Yet, I believe along with Paul:

1 Cor. 15:50-58

What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These perishable bodies of ours are not able to live forever.  But let me tell you a wonderful secret God has revealed to us. Not all of us will die, but we will all be transformed.  It will happen in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die.   For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die.
 When this happens—when our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die—then at last the Scriptures will come true:

"Death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?"

 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.  How we thank God, who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord's work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless."

 My God loves...
He sacraficed His Son in order to rescue us from death. 

Nothing compares to knowing Him and experiencing Christ in us, the hope of glory...when death is swallowed up and we see Him face to face, walk on streets of gold and evey tear is wiped away.

Until then, I stand on Romans 8:31-39:

... If God is for us, who can ever be against us?  Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?  Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death?  (Even the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.")No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Please pray for my friend, Rosie.  She needs His presence, nearness and comfort at this difficult time.  He loves her and I pray she feels it, but more importantly, that she knows it like she knows her name. 

I love you, Ro

Various photos taken by Daune on the ranch and San Pedro Park, San Antonio,TX.