Weddings and Funerals.

Hello BlogWorld!

Sorry I have been MIA. Mr.Pate's Grandma passed away last Tuesday night, so as you can imagine, life has been crazy. We spent the week & weekend in Louisville cleaning, spending time with family, and hanging out at the funeral home. She was a feisty little lady who kept us laughing, and she is missed greatly!

Weddings and Funerals.

This past week I thought about how unique these events are. There really arent any other events in life that bring together people the way weddings and funerals do. Sure at Christmas you may get together with all your family, or for a special birthday you may get lots of your friends together. But at a wedding or funeral, people who have been special at all different times in your life come. Each guest may have a totally different snapshot of who you are. They may know you from work, or school, or family, or from when you were young, or when you were old. They all come because you are a special person to them, but you may be special in a different way to each one.

I have only known Mr.Pate's grandma for five and a half years. She was 78 years old. I missed alot of her life. I met so many people at the funeral home who knew so many sides of her I had never experienced. One lady partied with mr.pate's grandparents (grandfather died when mr.pate was 8 or 9) alot when they were "young". Some had been a neighbor to her for 40 years! People came from my mother-in-law's school who only knew her as "Jan's mom". There were friend's of the twins who knew her as the twins' "crazy grandma". Some knew her as "Aunt Shorty" and one knew her as "Sister". But they all knew her and loved her. They all had their love for her in common.

I remember thinking of this at my wedding. So many special people from our lives, most of which knew nothing about each other. But for that night they all had something in common... their love for us.

Mr.Pate performed the funeral on Saturday. It was the most moving funeral I have ever attended. Death is an everyday reality for every human. Each day we are forced to think of death, this is a result of the Fall. This week it will be nine years since I watched a friend die tragically. Death is around every corner in this world. It is a very sad reality. Some deaths (like grandma's) are easier to accept and grieve through than others (a 17 year old with his whole life ahead of him).

But there is hope...

"Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?"
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
1 Corinthians 15:42-57

'See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.'
And the one who was seated on the throne said, 'See, I am making all things new.' 
Revelation 21:3-5