Home to Glory…the Precious Goodbye

The story of my father’s life has been a beautiful one from start to finish.  Even his death is a wonderful example of God’s amazing provision and grace.  For the last four days, my dad has been in the transition process of leaving this Shadow Land and heading toward Glory.  On Sunday dad quit eating.  On Monday he stopped drinking anything.  His periods of alertness became shorter and he was clearly in pain.  My mom and my brother, Tim, continued their wonderful attention and care for daddy. Tylenol helped daddy’s pain.

Tuesday Tim could not get daddy up anymore.  Dad’s physical state was now so frail that his ribs were touching his hipbones when he was in the wheelchair.  Tuesday afternoon we asked the bath nurse to contact the hospice department of the home healthcare office where she works.  Wednesday was another day of the same in and out of daddy’s consciousness.  The nurse from the VA came to recertify dad for another year of VA home health visits.  He was dehydrated from no longer taking fluids yet he clearly knew that mom and Tim were with him.  The VA nurse got an order from dad’s doctor for pain medicine with a little more “kick” in it.  Thursday daddy was more comfortable with the pain medicine the nurse had gotten him.  I called mom three times that day.  When I talked to her Thursday night she said that daddy was not really “with” her and Tim…he was slipping into labored breathing.

This morning (Friday) (August 20, 2010) I awoke at about 5:50am with daddy on my mind.  I went to my Tent-of-meeting spot to pray for him and for mom and Tim.  As I was praying I felt like a weight was pressing in on my chest and I could hardly breathe.  I had such sense of urgency to go to be with my mom in Nebraska.  At that same time, I was still praying and I saw clearly in my mind, a picture of angels carefully setting the last items in place on a table for a feast.  I asked the Lord, “Father, are you putting the napkins on the table for daddy’s welcome home dinner?” I said, “Jesus, would you please go to daddy and accompany him on this last leg of his journey?  Please don’t let him have any fear.  Please Lord, you know we have been asking You for grace and “no drama” at the end.”

 I immediately saw my precious grandma’s face and grandpa was sitting beside her.  They were at the table…waiting.  There was excitement in the air and it was so beautiful.  The vision was so clear and yet it was like a dream and all the while I am feeling almost crazed to get a plane ticket.

Still praying, I went to my computer and went onto Frontier Airlines website and typed in the information to find out how much a ticket for TODAY would cost.  There was one seat showing as available…I went upstairs and woke Ben up and by now I was sobbing.  For whatever reason, which I could not explain at that moment, I was overcome with this sense of determination and urgency.  I choked out my sobbing desire to go to Nebraska TODAY to Ben.  I think that because I rarely cry and I am never adamant about something to the point where I almost seem crazed, he took it quite seriously.

He was very sweet.  He got right up and started working on the ticket…the flight out was in two and a half hours and in order to get to the airport an hour before the flight, we would have to get the ticket and I would have to pack.  We worked in tandem.  He was trying to get something cheaper on United – which the computer was showing was available online; but when he called, it was not available.  Frontier’s one seat was the only way for me to get to Nebraska and he bought the ticket.

I called and left my mom a message on her answering machine.  It was about 4:30am her time…I told her I was on my way to her house…I just needed to be with her, I couldn’t explain it.  She and I had not talked about this.  It was just something I knew that I needed to do.

As I was waiting to board the plane in Louisville, my mom called me.  Daddy was gone.  Tim had come downstairs to help mom check dad after I had called.  He was cold and gone.  I was so grateful that I was already on my way.  God had clearly been the one pushing me to get the ticket to Nebraska TODAY.

After getting off my first plane of the four-plane-journey, I talked to mom and Tim again.  We compared notes.  They had stayed up almost all night with daddy.  His breathing was labored and he sounded raspy on expirations.  At 4am (6:00 am my time) daddy had awoken and clearly looked right into mom’s eyes and smiled.  He reached up and tried to pull her down for a kiss, which she gladly gave him.  Then he turned to Tim and he smiled at Tim, as he looked right into Tim’s eyes.  Mom had just given him more pain medicine and dad’s breathing became peaceful and not labored.  He closed his eyes and went to sleep.  Mom went to bed and was planning to check him in an hour.  I called about a half hour later to tell her I was coming…I did not know anything about the all night vigil or the sweet goodbye he had just given them.  Even they did not know he had just said goodbye.

Mom got up and listened to the message I had left about an hour later, did a few important bathroom things and was going to go back to bed.  She checked on daddy…he was still and quiet.  She called Tim down to help her check him and they both agreed.  Dad was in Glory.  He was at the feast with Jesus and Grandma and Grandpa, Roy Porter and Richard Johnson…the babies that he never got to watch grow up, his brother, Alvin, and Uncle Glen…I can almost sense the party.  I think the music is bluegrass and some of the angels have cowboy hats on and are giving daddy a rodeo-show.  I don’t think that is sacrilegious.  I know Jesus loves a good party.

What a precious thing for me to realize that it really was the Holy Spirit telling me to get on a plane.  What a precious thing that God really did answer our prayers for daddy to be able to just walk into heaven without any drama.  God even gave mom and Tim one special, last smile and a sweet kiss for mom.  Oh how very grateful I am to the Lord Jesus for His unsearchable grace that made daddy’s assurance of entrance into heaven and rest possible.  Romans 4:6-8 says, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for a good man someone would dare even to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”    Praise God my dad knew this and believed this.  In fact, my father and his brother, Carl, are the reason that Grandma and Grandpa are at the feast in heaven!  They believed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ first, and then went and told this wonderful, Good News to my grandparents.  I praise God that all of my dad’s family has believed with their heart and have confessed with their mouth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Oh death where is thy victory?  Oh Grave where is thy sting?  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ.  (1 Cor. 15:55-58)  The effects of sin – that being our inability to be worthy of heaven or being with God for eternity, have been washed away through the blood of Jesus Christ which He shed for us on the cross…so for those who believe in Him, this assurance of eternity in heaven is theirs.  Jesus beat death and the power of sin in death, when He died on the cross and rose again three days later.  Oh how very thankful I am for this truth.  Oh how very grateful I am that daddy knew that!  I will see him again in a little while.  What a glorious thought!

My sister was able to get a flight from Savannah to Nebraska for tomorrow.  She is helping her daughter move right now.  She will stay for two weeks to help mom and Tim with the transition.  I can only stay a week.  I am filled with gratitude.  Where Mom and Tim have been so faithful in the Joyous “Through”, that being the journey through the “Valley of the Shadow of Death” with daddy… Today we witnessed the faithfulness of God the Father in giving daddy a peaceful “Through”.  Today my dad heard Jesus say, “Welcome Home Myron, my good and faithful servant, come into your rest.  Your suffering is over.  It is through.  It is finished.” 

At that moment, death was swallowed up in victory – there was no sting in death for my father’s sins were forgiven and Jesus was there to verify that daddy’s name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  Today my precious daddy’s body was shed like a shell and he is now talking, laughing, singing and praising.  His new, glorified body will never fail him like his earthly one did.  There is no muscle-wasting Parkinson’s Disease in heaven!  The words are all coming out right again.  He is walking in the many gardens in heaven and talking to Jesus about those cattle that God owns on the thousand hills.  I am convinced that the Good Shepherd has a herd of those cattle that need dad to tend them and Jesus showed dad to his mansion which is complete with a fully stocked dairy-barn and a Border Collie which was wagging his tail to see his new owner.

Psalm 16:15 says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones. “  Today, August 20, 2010 was a very precious day for Jesus and daddy.  For as much as I will miss my dad, it is a precious day to me too.  Today, God was gracious and faithful to those daddy left behind.  I am going to write this as it happened today; Psalm 20 says:  “The Lord answered us in our day of trouble!  The name of the God of Jacob set Myron securely on high!  He sent help from the sanctuary, and supported Myron from Zion!  He remembered all our meal offerings, and found our burnt offerings acceptable!  He granted us our heart’s desire, and fulfilled all our counsel!  We sing for joy over our victory, and in the name of our God we are setting up our banners.  The Lord fulfilled all our petitions.  Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He did answer us from His holy heaven, with saving strength of His right hand.  Some boast in chariots, and some in horses; but we are boasting in the name of the Lord, our God.  Myron had bowed down and fallen; but today he has risen and is standing upright.  You saved him, Oh Lord; You answered us in the day we called.”