Celebration of: Is it Life or Death?

Yesterday we had a Celebration of Life service for one of our long time Midnight Cry Family members. It always amazes me how much work one can put into such an activity & the person it’s all about won’t even be there. (Unless you were an Ebenezer Scrooge then you might.) Greg however was loved by many & active in people’s lives. He was a lucky man in death as in life because had we found out Greg’s childhood nickname was “Bink” (short for binky) as his sister always called him we would've had some fun. I’m sure that his shiny black leather vest would have been adorned with BINK as an appropriate road-name!

Meeting his family & hearing the stories which spanned his lifetime from people, got me to wondering. When we celebrate someone’s life, that someone being a follower of “The Way”, why do we address the Death portion with “They’re in a better place” or “They’re with Jesus now” Hallmark-ism's? This we know for such a person, yes? As I sat there I was thinking, man you lucky dog Bink, you know the truth now better than us all & you're no longer looking thru clouded lenses! I was a little jealous but thankful I would someday be where he is.

I could relate to that guy named Paul who wrote all those letters which were collected and put in “The Book”, where he penned about his torn soul to be with “The Truth” yet to stay with his peeps in the here and now.  I sat & wondered what was Greg doin right then. Had eternity set in to him yet? Was he running with a cheetah…like I hope to do one day…or was he sitting at someone’s feet, maybe even JC Himself, listening to a firsthand story he only read about before?  

I then return from my wondering to look around at those who surround me and thought “Yep, we are an island for Misfit Toys” of which Greg was one and I fit the bill the most. In celebrating a Life here one often looks at how much someone had and base the celebration on how they attained it. What one did with the Life Father & JC gave them is a far better way to measure one’s Life. Listening to my fellow Misfits when applying this to "Bink" it was clear; though he didn’t have much what he did have, Himself, he gave unconditionally. I hope the same will be said about me!

I guess it really shouldn’t be a question of celebrating the life or death of one who knows the Author of “The Book”. Not an either/or but a both. A celebration of one who is and was Beloved in life as well as death is a far better party scene than one from a “Weekend at Bernie’s”! I think this could be summed up in Greg’s favorite saying with our own Midnight Cry added slant. “God is GOOD”--“All The Time” & “All The Time”--“God Is GOOD”--“But Life’s Still Hard, So Finish Well”! How is your race to death being lived in this life? What will we be celebrating when you’re gone?

Think About It,

Just Steve