This is such a weird one to write - I can't find the words even though there's a million and one things on my mind. But I'll give it a shot anyway.
Most, if not all, of what I write about is about Jesus. My example, my joy, my Father. This one is about someone else - my example, my joy, my Grandfather.
I've been spending a lot of time recently crying to God, praying to God and thanking God for the life of someone who we are all SO proud to look up to.
When God promises that 'surely I will be with you until the end' - He means it.
A long, long time ago, my Grandfather engraved our family crest with the words: 'God is my defender'.
Now if you knew what he'd been through in his 20's, on the frontline on the D-Day landings, you'd realise that he really meant that. Subsequent discussions I had with him would support that as well, as he also spoke of daily prayer and reading the Bible to help and guide him through what has been a VERY long life.
He's likely to be remembered most for being a great military leader - a man of true courage and valour. But I don't think these two things are mutually exclusive. God was his defender, in the very tough times and he most certainly is now, in a time of peace and rest.
If I had been in my Grandfather's shoes 66 years ago (when he would have been my age now) I don't think I would have been as brave and faithful. I think my world view would have been mangled and my ideas about God drastically altered or forgotten altogether.
Would I have said God was my defender, if I had experienced a life as he did? I'm not so sure I would.
He does though.
He also said to me a couple of years ago that 'divine help develops the fruits of experience.' Well, he certainly sees the full truth of that now and I couldn't be more thankful for that lifetime of experience and understanding.
As I've been trying to come to terms with his imminent passing, I was lead to Isaiah 51, which has given me amazing comfort:
"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn... When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many. The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.'
As I'm sure Granf would testify, it's always strange how you find bits of the Bible which jump out with significance at particular times when you need them most. This is one of those times for me. Because of his faith and walk with God, this really isn't the end. It's the beginning of Heaven for him; and that changes everything. Knowing that he put his trust in the One who called him, means we can be thankful for his passing, despite the pangs of loss his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren might be feeling at the moment.
Also, in 2 Corinthians 4 v16-18 it says: 'Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.'
I will always miss him, but thankfully I can always look to the rock from which I was cut and remember that this is only a momentary goodbye.
George Leonard Bream - 1st June 1919 - 7th May 2012. Home safely at last.
