Thoughts on The 'Other Side'...

Well as you can imagine I have been thinking a lot about the 'other side' lately. We knew that Papa Stein wasn't healthy but it really wasn't at a point where I had lost hope that he would get better. In fact I was quite the opposite - I was very hopefull and optomistic that between the doctors and specialists they would be able to pin point what was going on and work towards a longer term solution. I mean 59 isn't very old!(For those of you who don't know the skinny on Fred's heart problems - basically his heart would periodically go out of rythm. This made any physical exertion very difficult. He went in twice and was cardioverted (heart shocked back into rythm) and it work quite well - he walked out of the hospital noticeably better but we had not gotten to a point in treatment where cardiologist were willing to talk about other options other than him continuing to go to the hospital when his heart went 'out' again.)

His felt as though his heart was out of rythm again the night before he passed away. That morning he just stopped breathing and then was gone.

Over the past couple of weeks we have talked a lot with each other and our kids about where Papa Stein went. We know that he is in heaven.

We also know that the idea of heaven and something beyond this life is hard at times to wrap our heads around. Its abstract and a mystery. It is not tangible and therefore takes faith and trust in the character of God. I know for most of us one of the largest truthes about God that we struggle with, is a cornerstone of his character - that He is good. Especially when we are feeling loss - where is the goodness in this situation!?!

As I question God and my own faith when things like this happen I have been reminded in so many different ways one thing that has brought me (and Ed!) so much confort over the last couple of weeks.

It is this, that although we see death as a scary and sorrowful thing - because it is a parting from ones we love - God's perspective on it is so much more beautiful and clear. When we die we get to shake off all the grime and muck of this life - all the things that held us back and broke our hearts and spirits are gone. We are free to understand who we were created to be and how great the Father's love for us. We will be redeamed - just as Christs sacrifice intended to make us!!
I particularly love this thought!!! We who struggle to understand love in its most basic forms will be free to feel its full effect without all the baggage and sorrow.
(Yay Easter!!)

Last Sunday I was struggling to pay attention and so grabbed a bible from the pew and started reading in 2 Corinthians 5. They had chosen this passage to read at Fred's funeral because he had a one point chosen Corinthians to do an extensive study on.
It just spoke of such hope in light of our sadness.

^1-5For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we'll never have to relocate our "tents" again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what's coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we're tired of it! We've been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what's ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we'll never settle for less. 2 Corinthinans 5 (The Message)

and the other verse that keeps comming to mind is this one

Now we see only an indistinct image in a mirror, but then we will be face to face. Now what I know is incomplete,but then I will know fully,even as I have been fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12

How true is that...I know I don't see clearly right now but one day the hope and promise is that it will be known. I will be able to see.


I know this is a long bible filled post for some of you but in processing all of this - my faith in inherant. This is just me processing, so thanks for bearing with me.

I will close off here with a cute Eliana moment.
The other day while trying to explain to her that Papa Stein had died - I told her
"Eliana, Jesus came and got Papa Stein and took him to heaven."
To which she replied,
"How mommy, Jesus doesn't have a car!"