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Today my grandfather, Jerry Osborne, would be eighty-one years old... would be; but he's been in Heaven now for nearly 12 years. I miss him so much! I am surprised how easily my tears still flow when I think about him. I remember once, when I drove up with my grandparents to their house, standing behind my grandpa as he opened the back door for us. He was the sort of man who was hurried in his actions, and he would fling the door open with the flick of his wrist once the key turned. I had seen him do it a million times, but that day I remember wondering what would it be like when he was gone? How much would I cry? How bad would it hurt? I never imagined the pain would be this deep and this sharp!

Lately, my grandmother has been stricken with severe back pain, and has become weaker and weaker over the past months. I continually think about losing her, and how I am not ready to cope with such a loss. My grandfather was a relatively quiet part of our family, and his death crushed me; my grandma has always been the tie that has bound our family together, certainly her passing will be of an impact which will be emotionally shocking and numbing to a degree which my grandpa's death only foreshadows. This is a great fear to me.

The Bible says that although Christian's sorrow at the loss of a loved one, it is a sorrow mingled with the hope of Heaven. Jesus has the audacity to promise us that if we live and believe in Him we will never die! If I dare to put my faith in such an incredulous promise, then I truly have hope in the midst of sorrow and death. The Bible again says that if we believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, then we have a confident hope and expectation to one day be reunited with those we have loved and lost; for God will bring them to meet us when we arrive in Heaven (1 Thess 4:14). Jesus Himself even said, "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me... I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."

We have a great hope as Christians, a hope that will not disappoint because God loves us and will ever be faithful to us! One day I will be left without both of my grandparents, both of the loving faces who cared for me and loved me and held me before I even knew them; they loved me first. One day I will stand before two headstones instead of only one, and I will cry and sorrow... but because of the Savior whom I know so well through their faithful testimony of Him, I will have the hope of Heaven, even through my tears. For one day, I know, in the sweet by an by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore which looks out across a crystal sea, both my grandparents and me! 

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!