euel austin smith

Euel Austin Smith
December 15, 1921 - February 12, 2006

Euel Austin Smith was my grandfather (my mother's father).

While sitting on a beach in south Taiwan, I found out my grandfather died (cell phones are amazing). 

I was alone.  I know that my grandfather was not there anymore.  And, I know that I had already told him goodbye.  But funerals are for the living--to remember, to comfort, to be comforted.

I knew this was a possibility when I first came to Taiwan . . . but I didn't know it was going to be this hard.

For nearly 28 years of my life, I have had four living grandparents.  What a blessing!  I am also blessed to have a rich godly heritage.  I come from a multi-generational line of ancestors who believed in the power and truth of the Bible, trusted Christ as Savior, and worshiped God.  And I am thankful, so thankful, for this incredible blessing.

My grandfather was 84 years old.  He and my grandmother were married for nearly 63 years.  When they were juniors in high school, he had just moved to Friendship, Arkansas. My grandmother, seeing he was a handsome young man, was brave enough to ask him to sign her yearbook.  He signed it, "I'd like to get to know you better."  Ha!  Did he ever!! :)

My grandfather started a family line that includes four daughters, one son, thirteen grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.  And what a great family it is too!

I spent more time with my grandfather in the years right before I came to Taiwan, when he was in his late 70's and very early 80's, than I did as a child.  I remember him as a man with a great sense of humor, who loved his wife, and who was very easy going. 

I remember once, when my sister and I were teenagers, he hid two giant eggs outside at Easter.  We were too young to play with the others, but he had not forgotten us.  Inside each egg was a little cash.  But, what I remember most about that day was that it seemed to make him happy to make us happy.

I remember going camping with him and grandma.  That was the weekend I burned my pinkie finger on a cigarette lighter because I didn't know what one was.  He took me swimming and fishing.  And, at night before bed, all three of us read silently to ourselves--that left a big impression on me.  Both of them highly valued and enjoyed reading.

For the last few years, each time I left his home, I would go over to his chair to kiss his cheek and tell him goodbye.  Each time he would tear a little and whisper in my ear "we are proud of you."  Sometimes he would even kiss my cheek too.

I read The Journey of Desire by John Eldredge this week.  I did not expect to find in it words about death, but I did.  And they gave me a new perspective--a view of death that I had never before seen:

We can never fully explain the reasons surrounding someone's death.  We've come to accept it for the aged, and we try to console ourselves with thoughts like, "He's had a full life."  But death is never natural; it was not meant to be.  That is why those left behind experience such excruciating pain.  . . . Each death can begin to be understood only within the larger story God is telling.  Much of that story remains for the moment a mystery.

The pain and loss we feel with death is a reminder that we were not created to die.  Man was originally created to be eternal, but then Adam changed all that when he bit into that apple.  Always before I had focused on the "we mourn but we mourn with hope" concept . . . but I actually tried to convince myself that mourning was wrong for Christians--that we should celebrate the Christan's homecoming.  And although he is now in his Maker's presence and we do mourn . . . but with hope.  I have learned that it is ok to mourn.  And, in the mourning that makes me a mortal human I confirm the Truth of the Word of God

[God] knows us inside and out, keeps in mind that we're made of mud.  Men and women don't live very long; like wildflowers they spring up and blossom, but a storm snuffs them out just as quickly, leaving nothing to show they were here.  God's love, though, is ever and always, eternally present to all who fear him, making everything right for them and their children as they follow his Covenant ways and remember to do whatever he said. (Psalm 103:14-18).

He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign LORD will wipe away all tears.  (Isaiah 25:8).

O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting? (1 Corinthians 15:55).

How we thank God, victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our Lord! (1 Corinthians 15:57)

Death is part of a much greater and much deeper event, the fullness of which we cannot comprehend, but of which we know that it is a life-bringing event. . . .   Eternity is born in time, and every time someone dies who we have loved dearly, eternity can break into our mortal existence a little bit more. (Henri Nouwen in A Letter of Consolation)

And it is true.  We do mourn and grieve.  But, and it is a great big but (as I used to say when I was a child before I realized what everyone else was thinking) we do not grieve like those who have no hope.  It is markedly different.  Yet a different kind of grief does not mean that there is no grief.

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.  Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.  For we say this to you by a revelation from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord's coming will certainly have no advantage over those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel's voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)