Well done...

​June 28, 2020
 
There are moments in life where everything seems to come to a halt.  Things that seemed so important, suddenly fade into the background.  I’ve had several of these moments in my lifetime.  I remember the day we took our first foster care placement, just a few weeks before Christmas.  Suddenly, all the decorating and planning for the holiday which had been forefront in my mind, was pushed back as caring for two small children who had been removed from their parents for the first time became a much more important goal.
 
My father in law died yesterday. In an instant, plans for our big 4thof July family camping trip were canceled, and the family trip out west which he, and his wife, and his girls had left on just the day before was no more. 
 
My husband and I were awoken Saturday morning to a phone call from my mother in law, her voice was a panic, and the message was short.  Dave had had a heart attack, and she was asking us to pray and contact other family members.   As my husband hung up the phone, I was in disbelief.  That certainly was never the call I expected to receive.  The realization that my husband was about to become fatherless was a moment I never had imagined.
 
What seemed like only a few minutes later, she called again, informing us the ambulance crew was doing CPR and taking him to the hospital, but had informed her it was “very serious”.  At the end of the call she repeated those words.  I’ve had enough emergency response training, to assume what was going on.  As she and the girls followed the ambulance to the hospital, I knew without a miracle, what news was waiting for them when they arrived.
 
Until this year, death has for the most part availed me.  Besides the passing of a few extended family members, I have had little contact with loosing family. My final great-grandmother, who passed when I was in college, was the closest I had been to person who has left this life.  Although the was a dear woman and I have many memories or her that I will cherish as long as I life, we lived our lives, for the most part, separated by half a continent.  
 
Earlier this year, I sat at the dining room table in my parents’ home as my dad took the call from his older brother.  I could hear Walt on the line, “Dad’s gone”.  Unlike yesterday, we had been waiting for that call.  I had traveled 6 hours home with my oldest earlier that day to see him after receiving news he was being put on hospice.  Yesterday, I witnessed that same call, expected yet unexpected, as I heard my husband say, “At least we know where he is”.  
 
Two calls in just 6 short months, and with the COVID-19 pandemic and everything else in our world, what a very quick 6 months it has been.  But God’s timing is perfect.  My grandpa went before all the shutdowns, and I am so thankful we were able to be together. So, so, thankful.  As restrictions are easing up, we are now able to be together once again.  As I prayed yesterday morning, I could hardly even request a miracle, it almost felt wrong, because I had such peace in my heart that this was the time.  This was part of a greater plan, from a God who loves us, who loves Dave, and who has everything in this chaotic world perfectly under control. So I mainly prayed prayers of surrender. Of course, I asked God to keep him with us, but I knew in my heart that wasn’t going to be the outcome.
 
I never imagined my children would lose their first grandpa the same year I did.  I never imagined my mom would lose her father in law just 5 months before me.  I never imagined that my mother in law would become a widow only two years after her mother. The generational gap has seemingly melted.  
 
It seems so unfair that I was given 31 years with my grandpa, with both of them, and my grandmothers too.  Yet my daughter was given just 3.  Three short years which she will likely never remember.  Will she even remember him?  She’ll never really “know” the humble man with love in his eyes, who led our family with a gentle quiet strength.  To me that is the greatest tragedy of yesterday. Not that he is gone, because I believe with all my heart he is with Jesus and reunited with his family who has gone on before, and Grandpa Bob who we lost two years ago to the week, and we will all be reunited again someday, praise God, but the tragedy of those in our family who will never know him.  The hardest things for my heart to handle are the thoughts of those like my little niece, who was due yesterday, who will never meet her grandpa.  It brings me to tears every time. Every. Time.
 
I’ve always considered myself blessed to have all my grandparents and even so many of my great-grandmothers well into my life.  I know I was.  It’s a gift so many will never receive.
 
I will always be thankful for the years I knew Dave.  That I was part of his life, and he was part of mine for a whole decade. May God give us strength of the days ahead without him.
 
Sometimes songs have a way of reaching our hearts.  I can think back on key moments in my life and many times a song goes with them.
 
As I drove through Minneapolis on the way to see my grandfather on his death bed, I heard the song “Almost Home” by Mercy Me on the radio for the very first time.  Not only was I physically almost home, with a little over an hour left on my drive, but that day my grandpa was almost home with only hours left in this life.
 
A few days ago, the song “Well Done” by The Afters came on the car stereo, once again as I was driving, and it spoke to my heart.  With all the pain in this life, with all the hurt in our nation, with all the death in our world, the hope and peace of every believer is knowing that one day we will be home and the one who is faithful and true, who loves us more than life itself will look at us and say “well done, good and faithful servant”.  What greater joy?  Just minutes before we got that final call yesterday this song came into my head again.  I know my father in law ran the race set before him, and I, and our family, along with the Lord himself applaud his life and say “well done”!

ALMOST HOME – MERCY ME
​
Are you disappointed
Are you desperate for help
You know what it's like to be tired
And only a shell of yourself
Well you start to believe
You don't have what it takes
'Cause it's all you can do
Just to move much less finish the race
But don't forget what lies ahead
Almost home
Brother it won't be long
Soon all your burdens will be gone
With all your strength
Sister run wild, run free
Hold up your head
Keep pressing on
We are almost home
Well this road will be hard
But we win in the end
Simply because of Jesus in us
It's not if but when
So take joy in the journey
Even when it feels long
Oh find strength in each step
Knowing heaven is cheering you on
We are almost home
Brother it won't be long
Soon all your burdens will be gone
With all your strength
Sister run wild, run free
Hold up your head
Keep pressing on
We are almost home
Almost home
Almost home
I know that the cross has brought heaven to us
But make no mistake there's still more to come
When our flesh and our bone are no longer between
Where we are right now and where we're meant to be
When all that's been lost has been made whole again
When these tears and this pain no longer exist
No more walking we're running as fast as we can
Consider this our second wind
Almost home
Brother it won't be long
Soon all your burdens will be gone
With all your strength
Sister run wild, run free
Hold up your head
Keep pressing on
We are almost home
Almost home
Almost home
We are almost home
Almost home
Almost home
We are almost home

WELL DONE – THE AFTERS
 
What will it be like when my pain is gone
And all the worries of this world just fade away?
What will it be like when You call my name
And that moment when I see You face to face?
I'm waiting my whole life to hear You say
Well done, well done
My good and faithful one
Welcome to the place where you belong
Well done, well done
My beloved child
You have run the race and now you're home
Welcome to the place where you belong
What will it be like when tears are washed away
And every broken thing will finally be made whole?
What will it be like when I come into Your glory
Standing in the presence of a love so beautiful?
I'm waiting my whole life for that day
I will live my life to hear You say
Well done, well done
My good and faithful one
Welcome to the place where you belong
Well done, well done
My beloved child
You have run the race and now you're home
Welcome to the place where you belong
What will it be like when I hear that sound?
All of heaven's angels crying out:
Singing holy, holy, holy are You, Lord
Singing holy, holy, holy are You, Lord
Singing holy, holy, holy are You, Lord
Waiting my whole life for that day
Until then I'll live to hear You say
Well done, well done
My good and faithful one
Welcome to the place where you belong
Well done, well done
My beloved child
You have run the race and now you're home
Welcome to the place where you belong
Well done