Hope

December 27 a day I’ll not forget, for it was on that day 24 years ago around 11:00 pm my Dad died. I can remember it well I had went deer hunting that day; I saw a deer but for some reason I didn’t kill it, I could have I just didn’t. That night I called my Dad and told him about what I had done that day. He told me that he had finished reading a book that he really wanted to finish. We talked for awhile and I told him as I always did “Dad, I love you talk to you tomorrow." We then said good bye. Little did I know that that would be the last time I would ever get to talk to him? I was struggling with what to preach on the next morning and I finally decided that I was too tired.  I would go to bed and get up early the next morning when my mind would be fresh. I had done that before when I was tired. The phone rang about 11:30  I answered it,  my brother was on the other end. He told me that I needed to come that Momma had called 911 and that Daddy was not doing good. I hit the floor running; as I walked through the doors of the emergency room I saw my mother and with that look I knew that my Dad was gone. I can’t tell you how that shook me; I mean I had just talked to him and now he’s gone. What I have experienced the last 24 years have been great memories of our times together. I wrote in my Journal on yesterday these words; I miss him so much even after 24 years. I can’t count the times I wish I could have called him just to tell him I loved him, ask him a question, tell him something or just get his opinion on things going on in my life. He was my hero and I miss him dearly. Did you catch what I just wrote? When I was in the military I was separated from my wife for 18 months while stationed a long ways away I missed her too but I had hope that I would see her again. Know what Webster says about that word “hope?” Are you ready? He says this; Confidence in a future event. Wait a minute while I shout! See I had confidence in an event in the near future when I would be with my wife again. Well I have that same confidence in the future event when I will see my Dad again; know why? Hebrews 6:19  Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; John Gill said it right “This world is as a sea; the church in it, and so every believer, is as a ship; the port that is bound unto is heaven; Christ is the pilot, and hope is the anchor: an anchor is cast on a bottom, out of  sight.” I have missed my Dad that is for sure but there is an anchor in my soul that tells me sooner more than later I be with him again. You may ask where do I get such a crazy idea; it’s not crazy it’s in our Bibles .Read with me:

Thessalonians 4:16  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:

1Thessalonians 4:17  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. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven those that have preceded us in death shall raise first from the grave. Then we which are alive shall be caught up together with them. There it is did you see it? “Together with them” you see back on December 27, 1986 my Dad left and has been gone now for 24 years. I miss him but I know that I will see him again and this time there will be no good-byes. Will you be missed; but more important do you have the confidence in the future event that you will see your loved one again?