Precious Memories

Today is the first year anniversary of my dad's death. Thoughts of him have been coming to mind all week. I miss his "Hi Honey" when we would walk into the door every morning while in West Virginia. When we were in Hawaii, the first question he'd ask me when I called him on the phone is "When are you coming home?" Dad loved the spring of the year. He loved his garden and couldn't wait until spring to plant his first onion and lettuce seeds. He would sit out on the stoop of his barn during the summer season and look at the garden as if he was watching over each plant that was growing. He also loved bluebirds. He eagerly awaited the first bluebirds that would arrive in the spring. He built his own special bluebird house for them, so they could have their babies where Dad could watch them being fed and then eventually fly from their nest. I love to picture Dad now enjoying his garden in heaven. I'm sure the beauty all around him is thrilling his soul beyond description. This year has been a long year for his family as we miss him so much, but Dad's time in heaven this year has been just as a blink of an eye. There is an eternity for him to enjoy God's magnificence and who would want to miss a single detail of it!!!

Saturday I was watching a Gaither Homecoming program and one of the songs had the phrase that "when the dead in Christ shall rise first". It was such a rejoicing moment for me to picture Dad's body being raised to join his spirit at the second coming of Christ that I could only shout and praise God right there alone as the image was so real to me at that moment. What a wonder it would be to be present at the very moment the trumpet sounds and the dead rise to meet him in the air.
If, however, my death precedes this glorious moment, and I die before the second coming, then I eagerly await Dad's welcome when he will say "Hi honey---welcome home!"

Thinking of Dad today,
Sandy