"To The Glory of God"

 "This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me." (John 21:19 KJV)

  "For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don't know which is better." (Philippians 1:20-22 NLT)

 As Jesus knew how Peter was going to die, I believe that our death too has been predetermined, that God knows the day and the hour, as well as the manner by which we are taken. The one's who get hurt by our passing are those that we leave behind; hopefully they will celebrate the life they spent with us, as it should be! 

 When my son passed, we had a beautiful service for him, with an open casket. Towards the end of the service, while I was passing out the boutonnieres to those that would be carrying out the casket, I saw that there were about five or six of the family and friends standing around the casket, sharing memories of some of the funny things that Buddy did. Some of them even had their hands on the open casket, and I saw some even place their hands on him, as if he was still there. 

 I know that he had some very hard times in the end, but I also know that he belonged to Jesus! No matter what we might do that might appear to be missing the mark, Jesus has paid the price for that; all of our sins were paid for, those from the past, present, and future; nothing is left that isn't covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, in the eyes of the Father! 

 I have been in this family of God long enough to see more than I ever wanted to see. But in the words of Bryan's dad, Less, "When we get to heaven, we will be surprised by those we don't see, and those that we do." We should not judge who is worthy, only God is the judge of that; we need to judge ourselves and see if we are worthy! Hopefully you will judge rightly, knowing that without Christ you are not... 

"As the Scriptures say, "No one is righteous - not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one. Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Their tongues are filled with lies. Snake venom drips from their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. They rush to commit murder. Destruction and misery always follow them. They don't know where to find peace. They have no fear of God at all."" (Romans 3:10-18 NLT)