I’ve been Redeemed
After we told the boys of the disease that would soon take their daddy’s life, Luke my oldest son, asked Scott, “Are you SURE this is what you have, daddy?” Scott replied indirectly, but of what he was absolutely sure of. He said, “Luke I am certain, I am in the hollow of God’s hand.” Since Scott had already started a “bucket list” of things to do before “the end”, the boys started to make their own bucket lists of what they wanted to do with their daddy as well. (a trip to Disney, Space Camp, the Grand Canyon…) We had quite a long list – and unfortunately didn’t get to do much of it but it was good to have hope in that very hard season. After his passing, the boys and I talked a lot about heaven – and Randy Alcorn’s book called Heaven was greatly encouraging to me. He had a version for kids that we read together. It started us on conversations of what heaven would be like and how we’d be together again. Luke was excited to maybe one day do some “space travel” with his dad. (as his heart condition wouldn’t hold him back from that in heaven!) Pierce wanted a 5 story treehouse with LOTS of bullfrogs.(which he was obsessed with at the time) Nathan wanted a cat farm – and a cat the size of a pony that he could ride. He also wanted a pond of fish for all his cats. (how very thoughtful!) It brought about a certain type of excitement for them. Maybe a little over the top at times…..but hey we don’t quite know what heaven has in store for us….we just know it’s gonna be GOOD!
They also wrote letters to their daddy that we included in the urn vault we buried in the memorial garden in our woods. Here’s what they wrote:

Letter’s to daddy……(to be included here…..)
Although we don’t know the number of our days or the next bend in the road, we have such amazing hope of what’s to come. How wonderful to live with the assurance, the certainty, that the price has been paid, we’ve been redeemed! And not only that – we are loved and adored by the King of the Universe!! We are His and we are graciously held in his loving care. And someday we’ll be with Him – the One who is pure LOVE and in a place of total perfection – where there are no more tears, no more pain, no more sin…. no more anything bad!!
It’s pretty hard to imagine…..but here’s an attempt: Take the best day of your life – where you’ve felt the most joy, the most peace…..the most everything wonderful …..and then multiply that by a kagillion and you’re probably not even close to what heaven is going to be like! Here’s another thought; imagine knowing only one kind of food all your life long – say…a bland grey porridge (no cream or sugar) and that was what you knew as food! And then one glorious day you are presented with THE FEAST – foods of amazing variety, texture, taste, color, aroma…..all incredibly delicious, beautiful,….and of course the most amazing desserts made out of chocolate….or something that far exceeds chocolate – and in comparison the chocolate that we know here is grey tasteless porridge! Wow! Anyway – I think we have NO IDEA of what awaits us in the life to come. Not only redeemed, found, saved….but delighted in……loved…..adored. The best is definitely yet to come!

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“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. ” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ” Romans 8:18
I’ve Been Redeemed

Lost and broken on a road to nowhere

You saw my eyes that could not see

a foolish wanderer, grasping at air

My soul in dark agony

A cry for mercy – a prayer for relief

“Is there a Savior who saves??”

Then Love reaches down before I can speak

Leaving my soul Amazed. What more can my heart say….

I’ve been redeemed, I’ve been found

Mercy’s Hand – reaching down

Into the fire – into the grave

Halleluia – JESUS SAVES!!

And not for only earth’s small vapor of time

But for all eternity

My heart will ever sing this song of praise

Of what my God has done for me!! I’ve been redeemed….

By grace I’ve been carried, by grace I stand

With hope I am waiting in the hollow of God’s hand….