I can not believe that on the 5th of this month, we will have had Elizabeth in our family for 6 months. Wow! Time flies. She is such a joy to us. She loves life and seems to be very comfortable with us. SHe loves doing anything with the kids. Here, Jacob is enjoying a swing with her. She laughs the whole "ride".

On Monday, Mark’s grandmother passed onto glory’s side. Death is a strange thing. I look at Elizabeth and see life in all it’s wonder and excitement. We visited Grandma in the hospital on Sunday and saw death at the door. Death and Life, both filled with wonder and both have it’s potential to be filled with excitement. Grandma was 91 years old. She lived a long life. She experienced life, it’s ups and downs. She experienced much. There are many who believe that when someone dies of an older age, they are ready to go on because they have lived a long life. As someone shared those exact thoughts with me, I had to pause and consider what God says about death.

His word does not promise that all will enter glory when they die. Not all will experience the beautiful wonder and excitement of death. For some, no matter how old they are when they die, they will not experience life after death in the presence of our Lord. No,.. they will experience Hell and learn that Hell is a real place. It will be then that they will be filled with fear and terror and never again experience the joy of living. It doesn’t matter if they have lived a long, full life. For me, even if they are suffering here on earth, I do not want them to die unless they know Jesus Christ as their own, personal savior. For the suffering here on earth will be nothing compared to the suffering they will face for eternity in Hell.

I do struggle with death and all that comes with it. For me, if I have seen evidence in someones life that they do love Christ, there is a peace about their death. The ache and pain comes from the loss I will have not being able to share this life with them. I ache for those who have been left behind, but not for the one who has crossed into glory’s land. The struggle I have is that fact that we do not know the heart of a person, we can not judge if their faith in Jesus Christ is real or not. That is between God and them. There are those whom I have lost to death that have shown no evidence of a faith in Christ, except for a moment in which they “trusted” Christ, said a prayer and then continued to live their life just as they did before. It is then that I struggle with death. As I said, I can not judge their faith, nor can someone judge mine. It is up to God to judge and He is a faithful judge who is perfect in His judgments. There are those who attend church faithfully, yet their life is full of hypocracy and their walk with God is not real. And, there are those who never attend a church service, yet their faith in Jesus Christ is real. There are those who talk the talk, but show no evidence of salvation and there are those who talk the talk and walk the walk. There are those who walk the walk but never talk the talk, they are quiet and unnoticed. The bible says that salvation comes to those who have trusted in the redeeming blood of Christ. They have trusted that the death of Jesus Christ has paid for the wages of their sins. The bible says that if you believe with your heart and confess with your mouth, He will be faithful to forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. It IS a simple gift and one ready to be given to all who believe.

So I am experiencing the life of Elizabeth, filled with awe and wonder and now the death of Grandma…again, filled with awe and wonder. It is quite perplexing. I trust that Grandma’s faith was real and that she truly is on glory’s side. It is a time of remembrance and a time of celebration as well as a time of great sadness. She will be missed by those who loved her and cared for her.