Will We Really Be Reunited When We Get To Heaven?

Yesterday I woke up to the news that Billy Graham had passed and my first thought was that he'd finally see Ruth, his longtime wife, again.

Currently, they are a number of people in my life that are elderly and/or near death and I keep thinking of the great reunion that will happen when they get to heaven. Then recently within our circle of friends, a family lost their second child at the age of three to a chronic heart condition. This is the same condition that took their first child at around the same age. That family is grieving but again, I keep thinking of the sibling reunion in heaven (among other things). And then I often ponder my mother's heavenly existence and if she has reconnected with her son (my brother) and other relatives.

Marinating in Family History

This weekend I went home to attend my uncle's funeral. His wife passed during the summer and on Thanksgiving Day he went to heaven to meet her. He had a debilitating strain of Alzheimers and it was often uncomfortable to see his demise.

At this stage of the game, funerals and weddings are the only times we get together and of late it seems to be more funerals than anything else.  I told my younger cousins that it's time for some weddings and baby showers - hopefully they get the hint.

I learned a lot about my uncle this weekend; I learned that:

• He was a bodybuilder in his youth
• He was a  dapper dresser
• He eloped with his wife of 56 years
• He had a secret thanksgiving recipe for stuffing
• He had a bike that he treated like a Cadillac
• He really loved the Lord and took his Christian walk seriously
• He sometimes preached at his church

During the burial, I had a chance to sit in my mother's house and think about my life and the people I came from.

A picture of my brother for whom this blog is named

My parents on their wedding day

Our 1st Photo shoot (yours truly is somewhere in there) - that's a picture of my brother and the three girls.

The family photo circa 1983

My brother had recently taken a photography course and had all of his equipment.  I remember him putting the camera on the tripod, telling us all to smile and rushing back over so we would all be in the picture.  We were all excited about his new hobby!

Writing this and thinking about him makes me sad. We were a large loud family, and looking back the good times outweigh the bad.

Ending on a happier note, Saturday evening my sister and I went in to Manhattan to see the Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Plaza.

As a Christian, though I'm sad at the passing of family, if they were believers I know that one day I will be reunited with them in Heaven.

Believers Who Have Died

 ¹³ Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. ¹⁴ For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵ According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18

Are you missing someone this Christmas? Are you cherishing the family you do have, imperfections and all?