Happy Tuesday everyone. I hope
that this blog post finds you well. We’ve had a heavenly taste of fall weather
here in Tennessee. The cooler weather portends that I’ll be spending all day
Saturday watching college football. I’m interested to see how my Michigan Wolverines
fare this Saturday against the hometown Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders. I’m
curious to analyze how the new-look Michigan offense flows after spring ball
and fall camp workouts. Go Blue!
I
write this post with a heavy heart as my grandmother, Annetta Mehling, passed
away this past Sunday at the age of 88. She was the last of my living grandparents
and was truly a remarkable woman. She was the matriarch of a family that
included 13 children, 34 grandchildren, and 36 great-grandchildren. (Christmas
in our family is a lot of fun – and a little crowded too!) I’d say she qualifies for sainthood solely based on that alone. Some of my favorite childhood memories are Sunday
afternoons spent at my grandparents’ home with grandma in the kitchen cooking
meatloaf or a pot of chili while grandpa offered my dad a lukewarm Weidemann
beer. Grandpa never really got the memo that beer tastes better when it’s cold!
Back
in middle school, I wrote an essay indicating that my grandfather (Oscar Mehling) was the person whom I admired the most. He was a wonderful, hardworking farmer
as well as a dedicated father and grandfather. He was also a man of strong
faith. However, looking back, I neglected one important person in the writing
of that long-ago middle school essay. Truthfully, my grandma Annetta was the
driving force behind much of my grandfather’s success as a farmer. For those of
you that know anything about farming, the 1970’s were a trying time to work the
land. It was a time in which interest rates were skyrocketing and many family-owned
dairy farms were forced to close shop. Add to that the stresses of raising 13
(sometimes unruly!) children, and then you will have glimpse into the life that
my grandparents navigated. I’m sure it
wasn’t always easy and there were a lot of bumps along the way, but their faith
got them through the tough times. Their faith influenced their children who, in
turn, passed on that faith to my generation. My grandmother’s tried and true
faith is certainly responsible for the faith that I possess today. I would
guess that most of my cousins would concur with that sentiment.
Although
we mourn the passing of a lady who had a tremendous impact on many lives, there
is significant encouragement we can take from this loss:
1. Given
that my grandmother was a strong believer, we can safely assume that she has
passed into God’s beatific vision in Heaven. Her faith in the Christ and the
work He accomplished on the cross assures us that she will live forever. Romans
10: 12-13 gives us this assurance – “For
there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of
all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will
be saved.” When she departed from this
Earth, she passed from the Church Militant (those here on Earth) to the Church Triumphant
(those saints in Heaven). As part of the
Church Triumphant, we have assurance that she is looking down upon all of us and
is aware of our current situations. Being in Heaven, Grandma will be in the
eternal presence of God and can take her prayers to Him. This is encouraging as
James 5:16 exhorts, “Confess your faults
one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” That is to say,
the prayers of Anetta Mehling will be especially efficacious. A few months
back, I wrote an entire piece on the doctrine of the Communion of Saints. That blog
can be found at the link below.
2. The
passing of a loved one also reminds us that God always keeps His promises. Based
on God’s revelation in Scripture and my personal knowledge of my grandmother’s
faith, I can safely conclude that she is in Heaven. This should provide
encouragement to those of us still within the Church Militant. If we profess faith in Christ and walk in His
ways, we too can have the gift of everlasting life. When life becomes difficult and our faith is
tested, we need only to look back and remind ourselves of the struggles that
our passed loves ones went through. God’s promises in Scripture are generational
(i.e. not made to one person). We see this way back in Genesis 17:7 “I will establish my covenant as an
everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for
the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.”
God was faithful to my grandmother during the rough economic conditions of the
1970’s and He will be faithful to me in
the same manner when tough times come. Be encouraged in the tough times fellow
Christians, for Romans 13:11 tells us “And
do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to
wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we
first believed.”
3. A
death in the family is a reminder of our own mortality. Doesn’t sound very encouraging
does it? But it is in a roundabout way! The only certainty in this world
(besides taxes!) is that we will not live forever and will one day be
accountable for our life before the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. A time
of mourning can be a great opportunity to spread the Gospel of Christ Jesus. For
those who don’t believe, this reminder of personal mortality can be a great time
to profess faith in Christ and enter the narrow pathway heading towards
salvation. Maybe this is a relative or it may even be you! The opportunity to point to Christ as the only means of
salvation should not be missed as part of the mourning process. This evangelism
should not be accomplished through the use of fear and scare tactics, but
rather out of the position that God loves each of us and longs for an eternal
relationship with His children.
Visitation for Annetta Mehling
will be held Wednesday afternoon with the funeral service taking place on
Thursday. Please pray for my family as we prepare to say goodbye to an amazing
lady. Have a great weekend and I’ll write again soon.
In Christ,
Kendal May
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