The Deep, Deep Love of Jesus

It seems like the Lord has endless lessons about His grace for us to learn. Last Friday, Scott's best friend finished playing basketball and collapsed and died of a heart attack while getting dressed. James was only 31 years old. There have been so many lessons that I've learned and evidences of God's grace and love throughout this past week.

First, once again, came on Sunday through our order of worship. This past week's one was actually printed 2 weeks ago. It is amazing to see God's direction through it all. The opening passage for meditation was Romans 8:35-39. However, Danny started at 8:18. There are so many verses that pack so much encouragement in times of sorrow. (I tried to copy & paste them, but for some reason, I kept getting error messages. Anyway, if you need it, there's the link for the passage.)

What powerful verses of our confidence. From the Scripture meditation, a girl sang O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus. The first verse: "Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast unmeasured, boundless, free, Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me. Underneath me, all around me is the current of Your love, Leading onward, leading homeward to Your glorious rest above." From there, the congregation sang How Deep the Father's Love for Us. These songs remind us of God's overwhelming love for us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. As the service progressed, we sang Our God has Made Us One. One of the verses says "Our God has made us one-in sorrow and in joy; We share the cross of Christ, our Lord, in Him we now rejoice." I have, once again, seen the body of Christ come together to band in support of a hurting member. It is continually amazing to see how people from different backgrounds can all come together, unified, under the cross of Christ and see past all of those differences. Then, the offertory came. It was I Am Thine, O Lord. Once again, there was a verse that stuck out to me. "There are depths of love that I cannot know till I cross the narrow sea; There are heights of joy that I may not reach till I rest in peace with Thee." Amen. I can only imagine. As I talk with Lori, she has testified to the many ways in which the Lord has shown His vast love and joy since Friday. Then, to top off everything, during The Lord's Supper, the organist was going through the usual communion songs and then started in on Before the Throne of God Above. That was it. I was crying. Not to mention, I was sitting by James' sisters. To wrap everything up, after communion, we sang the Doxology. What a wonderful service.

Then came the funeral. The scripture reading culminated with "For to me, to live is Christ, and to to die is gain." Then, JoyBeth sang As Long As You Are Glorified. If you're not familiar with the words, here they are:
Shall I take from Your hand Your blessings, Yet not welcome any pain
Shall I thank You for days of sunshine Yet grumble in days of rain
Shall I love You in times of plenty, Then leave You in days of drought
Shall I trust when I reap a harvest But when winter winds blow, then doubt

Oh let Your will be done in me, In Your love I will abide
Oh I long for nothing else as long As You are glorified

Are You good only when I prosper, And true only when I’m filled
Are You King only when I’m carefree, And God only when I’m well
You are good when I’m poor and needy. You are true when I’m parched and dry.
You still reign in the deepest valley; You’re still God in the darkest night.

Then, Scott gave a eulogy.

When I sat down to write my thoughts on James' life, I couldn't figure out where to start, so rather than try to give some eloquent speech about his life, I just wrote down several things about James that I'll remember most.

James was...[he gave illustrations of each]
A great friend, A financial advisor, A political analyst, A professional bargain hunter, An athlete, A son who truly honored his parents, A caring brother, A loving father, A devoted husband, A man of humility who served others.

James was a great man, but all of those things didn't make James great. James was great because he served a great Savior. You see, James lived his life with the knowledge that it wasn't about making money, having a nice house, helping others and loving his family and friends...it was about glorifying the Christ who saved him. Everything that he did was with the realization that his relationship with Christ was the most important thing in his life.

11,943 days was all that God ever intended James to live. To us, it seems at least 12,000 too short. To God, it was the perfect amount of time to accomplish all of His will through and in James' life. Goed wasn't surprised by James' death. It was exactly as He had planned. James wasn't expecting Friday to be his last, but that didn't matter, because he lived his life knowing that his life wasn't his ultimate goal. His ultimate goal was to glorify Christ for all of eternity. That's where he is today, perfectly praising his Savior in Heaven. he has no care, no worry, no pain, no more faith...he sees Christ. I envy him becase though I know God still has work for me here on earth, I desperately want to see my Savior.

So, with the many questions we have in all of this, the most important one that we must ask ourselves is "Today, am I trusting Christ or something else?" Trust Christ. He is our only hope today and for all eternity. James was ready when God called him home on Friday. What about you?

Ok, I know he's my husband and all, but I thought it was very thought provoking. Anyway, then Elise sang It Is Not Death To Die. Once again, if you're not familiar, here are the words:

It is not Death to die, to leave this weary road,
and join the saints who dwell on high, who've found their home with God.
It is not death to close the eyes long dimmed by tears,
and wake in joy before your throne, delivered from our fears.

O Jesus, conquering the grave. Your precious blood has power to save.
Those who trust in you will in your mercy find that it is not death to die.

It is not death to fling aside this earthly dust,
and rise with strong and noble wing, to live among the just.
It is not death to hear the key unlock the door
that sets us free from mortal years to praise forever more.

O Jesus, conquering the grave. Your precious blood has power to save.
Those who trust in you will in your mercy find that it is not death to die.

Then, James' dad gave a eulogy. (Sorry, no notes from that.) It was also very good. Then, Pastor gave a strong salvation message. Then, as a congregation, we sang In Christ Alone. If you've followed my blog at all, you know that I love that last verse. However, after June 20, that verse carried a whole new meaning. What an overwhelming peace and joy to know that absolutely nothing takes God by surprise. Sure, the rest of us were caught off gaurd, but like Scott said in his eulogy, God's complete plan for James' life was done. Praise the Lord. His love is always with us and He does nothing that isn't for our good. These lessons in life just keep on coming.