Funeral

We burried my grandpop on Tuesday, December 20 and I have so much that needs to be said.

First of all I just need to praise God! He really made his presence known. Just from sharing memories I could tell that God is real and he is there for us and he cares for us. He is so amazing.

I sang "Amazing Grace" and because I had God working with me, I was able to sing the song with a smile on my face and was even able to address the audience and lead them in the last verse. There is NO WAY that was done in my own strength. I was a basketcase before I sang and after I sang. The only way I can explain it is God.

My dad had the difficult part of reading the memories that the family wrote. It was very emotional and he cried several times. I'm not used to seeing him cry. In fact the only other time I saw him cry was when he did the same thing for my Grandma Aschbrenner's funeral. That was his mother-in-law; this was his father... the man who adopted him while he was a teenager and became the only father he ever knew. My Grandpop never once treated him or my uncle as if they were only step children.

My Uncle Vince, who is also a pastor, gave an wonderful sermon. He made some really good points. One of them that stuck out to me was the fact that God gets blamed anytime something bad happens... especially when someone dies. My uncle asked the question, "Why does Satan get off so easily? This was never in God's plan. If we never would have listened to Satan in the first place we would all still be in the garden enjoying life with eachother and with God. But because of sin we have to die." He went on to give the BEST invitation I have ever heard. He just laid it out there that unless you have a relationship with Jesus Christ and believe he is the only way to heaven you are not going to be there. He also reminded us, very effectively for that matter, that my Grandpop had a relationship with Jesus and he is enjoying Heaven right now. The choice we had to make, the choice of deciding between venilators and feeding tubes and a life in heaven was a brainless one. By the time the sermon was over I was so excited for Grandpop and could not wait to get to heaven myself!

Regardless, here it is December 31 and I am still missing Grandpop. We had dinner at my Grandmom's house last night and it was so strange because we all sat in seats that were not our usual "Dinner at Grandmom's" seats. We shared memories and laughed and cried a little. Also yesterday, I heard a song on the radio that reminded me of Grandpop. It was called "When I Get Where I'm Going" by Brad Paisley. It had a couple lines about seeing his grandfather again when he gets to heaven, hugging his neck, and telling how much he's missed him. That made me cry. It's making me cry as I write this.

But I rest in knowing we have hope. God is a good God who loves us and longs to be with us. I will see Grandpop again one day and it will be so wonderful because he finally has a heart that works and he is probably having long talks with God about creation or else just the color blue. He was always a talker.

Until then, I know it is okay to cry.