On this first day back to writing after vacation, I find myself in a unique position.
The day in between.
Yesterday was Leslie Marie’s memorial. Because of extenuating circumstances and schedules, the delay was intentional. It was less a service and more just a beautiful celebration of her life. She had planned the whole thing and it was the perfect representation of her. There was a buffet of delicious food, tables set under the trees of a sweet historical venue house. There was laughter, tears and lots of pictures. And though I didn’t get to know Leslie for very long, hearing her friend’s and family’s stories of the personality and strength behind those smiling eyes gave me a better idea of how many people this one woman had touched. As a massage therapist, it was obvious that nearly every one of her clients had become friends and that their sessions offered emotional as well as massage therapy.
If you remember, I have been hoping to meet with Leslie’s father to tell him about our conversation and her acceptance of Jesus into her life.
I saw him from a distance. A teddy bear of a man with beautiful white hair and the same contagious smile that his daughter had. He was making the rounds talking with everyone there and I didn’t want to interrupt any conversations he was having with people he actually knew and loved.
But a while later I saw him sitting alone at a table on the big front porch, pouring over a photo album of Leslie’s entire life. Having been “prayed up” about this opportunity by so many others, I approached him with full confidence that God had a message of hope for this hurting man.
I started off by introducing myself. His first question – “How did you know Leslie?”
Obviously, this was the segue into the message that I felt God wanted to impress on his heart. I told him that Leslie and I met at the local antique fair where I bought a piece from her just a few short months ago.
But before I went into the story that would follow, I said, “You need to KNOW that Leslie is absolutely in heaven today. God wants you to know that she is with Him, whole and healthy and beyond happy.” He broke down, his broad shoulders heaving as he wept.
I grabbed his hand and began to tell him how God miraculously orchestrated every detail leading up to Leslie and I meeting. How God loved her so much that He wouldn’t let my heart rest until I told her how much He loved her and wanted a relationship with her. How she could be absolutely sure of where she would go when she died if she accepted and trusted The One who made eternal life possible for her.
I told him that I knew that he might think I was crazy and that such a wild story of miracles could sound like a fairytale but that I knew even more than I knew my own name that it is absolutely real. Absolutely truth. And that Leslie Marie is absolutely in heaven with Jesus.
Once again, he couldn’t contain his tears and this teddy bear of a man shook as he cried. “I was so worried about where she would be, of what would happen to her after she died! Thank you!”
I gave him my phone number, telling him that if he ever wanted to just get together and talk about his amazing daughter, I would love to learn more about her. I also told him that it would be her greatest wish to have him join her in heaven one day.
And now, again, I ask if you’d pray for Roland. That his heart would be stirred to ask more questions. That he would want to know Jesus, too. That he would hunger for the hope that his daughter found.
Yesterday I talked to a man who had just lost his daughter.
Tomorrow is the birthday of the sweet boy we buried 18 years ago.
So today is the day in between. A day to remember death, for Leslie, for Mitchell, but to celebrate the life they both now enjoy. The life that conquered death. The life that eliminated death’s permanence and offered eternity.
Today I will celebrate the temporary status of sickness and disease, of sadness and pain, and yes, even death when compared to eternal life, beauty and wholeness that Jesus offers as a free exchange.
On this day in between I will reflect with immense gratitude and remember with enormous thankfulness that I got to meet two souls, if only for a moment, before they entered their glorious destination, knowing that I will have all of eternity to knowthem even more…
John 14:6 – Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
John 3:16 – For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 1:4 – In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
