January 14, 2024

The Shepherd's Corner

On Tuesday Our Lord Jesus came and took Tante Yohanna home.  She was 96.  The Saturday before she slipped into her new home in heaven, Cie Ima called to let me know of her mom’s condition.  So, I came and prayed for her.  At the time she was still alert and able to respond.  When Cie Ima told her that I was there, she turned around and gave her hand to me.  When I asked her to pray, she extended her arms and cup her two hands together in the position of prayer.  But when Santy and I returned to see her on Tuesday, she was no longer responsive.  But her countenance was peaceful, as if she was sound asleep. Later that evening she left her earthly home and moved to her heavenly home.  See you again, Tante Yohanna.

God calls His children home at different ages and in different ways.  I wish we all would go like Tante Yohanna—at a full age and without many physical ailments.  But we know that is not always the case.  What is always the same is that it is He, Our Blessed Lord, who will come and take us home, as He promised, “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” (John 14:3).  In other words, we will not wander off somewhere; no, He will come and take us home.

It does not matter how satisfied we are with our lives, we cannot be totally satisfied. There is always something that is missing or makes us unhappy or dissatisfied.  C. S. Lewis has an explanation for this phenomenon, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”  The fact that our bodies will decay and one day perish shows that we are only here on earth temporarily.  Life on earth is a like a sentence with a coma, we will only have the sentence end with a full stop after we leave this earthly dwelling. It is Jesus Our Lord who will come and put that little dot called REST.

Pastor Paul

More Shepherd's Corner Articles

The Shepherd's Corner - June 19, 2016
THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER Fathers come in various shapes and forms—physically, mentally, and spiritually. In a perfect world we’d be blessed with good and God-fearing fathers but we don’t live in a perfect world. Far from being wonderful, some fathers are harmful to the welfare of their children...
Read More
The Shepherd's Corner -July 14, 2024
This week two people that I knew from my middle school years passed away: a classmate and a classmate’s mother.  My classmate reportedly did not even know that she was sick until it was too late.  Within months she succumbed to her disease and died.  The mother of my classmate fell ...
Read More
The Shepherd's Corner - March 3, 2024
Life is full of struggles, but some have more than others.  Days ago, I spoke with someone who has been struggling over the course of decades.  The thoughts of suicide have come and gone; it is the fear of the Lord that has kept these desires at bay.  Ever since I first met him over [...
Read More