by J. Watson<\/p>\n
My Dad was a preacher. He was a good man, a kind man, a strong man, a people person, a completely God-focused man. Lately, I’ve been going through times when I wish I had his strength and wisdom to rely on. As I’ve been thinking a lot about him lately, I have been imagining different conversations I would hear him have with others. One of these concerned speaking at funerals.<\/p>\n
The individual speaking to Dad said the hardest funeral must be one of an infant or young child. “No,” answered Dad, “Those are actually the easiest. During those services, the family can be offered not only hope, but assurance of the eternal condition of their loved one.” The most difficult were the ones in which the individual had lived in total denial of or rebellion against God. The flame of hope was out.<\/p>\n
Further reflection on this conversation got me thinking about the day of my own funeral. Will the songs be those of victory and joy and hope? Will the eulogy offer hope to my friends and family? What will my legacy be – earthly or spiritual? At the time of my father’s funeral I, and my siblings, were living outside of Christ and in rebellion towards God. The minister was able to use Dad’s life to begin to crack those hardened hearts. How will God use my passing? Will it be to offer God’s message of hope?<\/p>\n
I once read that if you really wanted to evaluate your spiritual health, you should sit down and write out your own eulogy, then evaluate its content, asking where the focus is – spiritual or earthly.<\/p>\n
May our lives offer God’s message of hope.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by J. Watson My Dad was a preacher. He was a good man, a kind man, a strong man, a people person, a completely God-focused man. Lately, I’ve been going through times when I wish I had his strength and wisdom to rely on. As I’ve been thinking a lot about him lately, I have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[109,1505,551],"class_list":["post-95312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-death","tag-funerals","tag-reputation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32190,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-flowers-sent-at-funerals\/","url_meta":{"origin":95312,"position":0},"title":"Why are flowers sent at funerals?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The Apostle Paul mentioned our bodies, like seeds, will die, and then the raised spirit sprouts like a flower from the dead seed. Which scripture is this? I thought that was a beautiful explanation. Is this why flowers are sent when death occurs? Answer: I believe you are thinking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68367,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/fathers-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":95312,"position":1},"title":"Father\u2019s Day","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 16, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ray Warfel, Jr. Today is Father's Day, so naturally, I'll start by mentioning Mother's Day. Last month, on Mother's Day, in my Sunday sermon, I highlighted various moms. Moms from long ago, moms who are a blessing, moms who never had children, moms to children who are not their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23931,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-jesus-say-to-let-the-dead-bury-the-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":95312,"position":2},"title":"Why did Jesus say to let the dead bury the dead?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When I read Matthew 8:21-22, I felt quite confused. It says \" And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.\" What does this mean? I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43214,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-convince-my-atheistic-dad\/","url_meta":{"origin":95312,"position":3},"title":"How do I convince my atheistic dad?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeffrey, I have a question in regards to my father: My dad is a good man. He provides for me and my family (divorced from my mom for years now) and he never hesitates to help us when needed. My dad however does not believe in God. One\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49623,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-is-your-dad\/","url_meta":{"origin":95312,"position":4},"title":"Where Is Your Dad?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kevin Sutton During the interview, the young man confessed to a crime that no doubt would send him to prison. I turned the recorder off, interview over, case solved, I had done my job. Even though I was certain that I knew the answer, I ask the young man\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44775,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/even-though-ive-changed-from-my-wild-teenage-years-my-parents-dont-talk-to-me-what-do-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":95312,"position":5},"title":"Even though I’ve changed from my wild teenage years, my parents don’t talk to me. What do I do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, This past year my parents and I have not been on speaking terms. Though we live in the same house they do not want to speak to me, appalled, hurt and disappointed in everything they've found out over a year ago. When I was 15, I broke my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95312\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}