B. Shannon Ross, B.Th.
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How
Do
You
Plan
a “Good
Good-bye?”
(September 2007)
I
remember sitting there in his living room, late into the evening that first
Monday of July. The funeral director
had produced a planning guide, and we were joking that the title would make an
interesting premise for a song.
We
answered the questions as best we could, filling in the pages with thoughts
toward others, finding that there had been so many, many lives touched in the
short time of almost 57 years…
When
Brad passed away, his parents and I searched his home from top to bottom, and
could not find that guide anywhere. And
so we sat together again, with the funeral director, with our thoughts toward
Brad. How would he want to be
remembered? How could we possibly
include all of the people who loved him?
Too many faces with not enough names…
And, how would we make it through, ourselves?
One
truth was clear to me, through all of this: Brad didn’t begin his plan that Monday evening; he began to plan
his “good good-bye” the moment he gave control of his life to Christ. With Jesus, he found the roots for his good
heartedness, and showed everyone else that they mattered to him, and to God. He’d loved others before; but through
Christ, Brad truly loved, because “love comes from God”
(1 John 4:7). Somewhere, I heard it
said that, “People will not remember you for what you did or what you said, but
for how you made them feel…”
The
cancer really didn’t have the last word.
Brad lived 2 Corinthians 4:16-18:
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet
inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal
glory that far outweighs them all. So
we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is
unseen is eternal.”
Planning
a “good good-bye” does not begin when you plan for death. It begins when you plan for eternal
life. “Good-bye” really means, “God be
with ye, until we meet again...”
See you soon, Brad.
{Your
thoughts?} {April 2008
edition}
