One year later...

...I still miss him terribly.
...Every day.
...The counsel.
...The friendship.
...The shared interests...God's Word, our church, the elder body, current events, history, especially presidents.
...Just checking in.
...Sharing the latest books read.
...Chuckling at our human condition, never taking ourselves too seriously.
...The integrity and unfailing "I have confidence in you."
...and so much more that love entails.

One year later...
...Still thankful for that last week.
...For strong faith to the last.
...That he's "waiting on the far side banks."
...That we'll meet in the morning beside the Eastern Gate.

...For the hope, the promise, of a glad reunion at trumpet sound.

"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thess. 4:16-18)

He is Not Here!

"He is not here: for he is risen, as he said." (Matt. 28:6)
As He said.

Very simple. As Paul put it,

"Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;"
According to the scriptures.

"He was buried."
Period? No!

"He rose again the third day according to the scriptures:"
According to the scriptures.

He is Risen, indeed.

(1 Cor. 15:3-4)

Blood Moon

"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come." (Joel 3:3)

Don't ask me what all these "Blood Moons" mean this year. Frankly, anyone who says they know is likely wrong. But He is coming back and we dare not scoff.

"That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation...But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?" (2 Peter 3:2-4, 10-12)