We Say Goodbye to Pompa

Well, a few weeks ago we said to goodbye to our final grandparent, Mike's grandpa, who was 91 years old! Mike had a deep admiration for his Pompa, who according to him was one of the toughest, roughest men ever but who always loved kids.

Pompa was in the Navy in WWII. He served in the South Pacific where he was the Captain of a PT Boat.

When he returned from WWII, he played four years of professional football.

Here we are with him a month or two before he passed away. I wish we had a pic of him playing peek-a-boo with Kara with that bear laying on him. Kara had him just laughing, it was such a sweet moment. The kids always brightened him up, even when he wasn't doing well.  We will miss you Pompa!!!

But as I was faced with the death of this loved one, I realized how quickly life goes by and I couldn't help but think about what comes after death. I am a strong believer in Jesus Christ and so I began to think about heaven. I was really struck by the fact that there is NO joy in death without Jesus! Why is that some of you might ask. Well, here's why: Jesus Christ is the only way to get to heaven!!! I have had a strong sense of need to put the Gospel, which is the good news of Jesus, on my blog. God has been laying on my heart a strong need to be bold about my faith and a sense of urgency to share Jesus with others. We don't know how many days we have left on this earth and I want to be done wasting time. I have always been a people pleaser who worries about what others think of me. I'm working towards being more worried about what Jesus thinks of me then others. Confession: I raised my arms during worship today at church! Yep, that's right I sure did! Some of you are thinking Jesus freak and others might be thinking wow I never knew this girl was a charismatic. I've always been afraid of labels and not wanting to be labeled. But more and more what I want is to be done caring about labels. But if I am going to be labeled I want it to be as a Christ-follower who doesn't just talk about Jesus but lives out my faith as best I can. I'm not perfect so I will mess up, but I pray with God's help that even amidst my failures that I will be a light for His Kingdom.

THE IMPORTANT PART:
God loves you! Yep, I'm going to say it again: God loves you! You may be far away from God or you may be searching with all you are right now to find God but wherever you are God loves you and has a plan for your life. If you are reading this and you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, what you need to know is that there is nothing you have done or you could do that would keep God from loving you!!! You may be thinking if God is so loving then why is there heaven and hell. Because though God is so loving, he is also just. If there were no hell, there would be no consequences for evil and sin. The definition I taught my kids of sin is that sin is anything that we think, say or do that displeases God. So we ALL sin! In the Bible in Romans 3:23 is says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." In our sin we cannot be with God, but God loves us so much that he sent his only son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. I have three sons and I wouldn't for a second let them take the place and die for someone else who did something wrong. But that's exactly what God did!!

I believe that forgiveness and salvation is found only in Jesus and his grace, through his death and resurrection, and that our works are meaningless before him. It doesn't matter how many good things we do, how nice, giving or successful we are, the only thing that matters is if we have trusted in Jesus.

Romans 10:9 says, "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved."

In John 14:6 Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

There can be joy in death when Jesus is part of the picture!!! We were singing a song in church this morning and here's a verse from it:

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

Jesus does not only bring joy in death, because we know we will be in heaven, but here on earth He brings love, peace, calms our fears, strength when we have none, solid ground when life around seems to be crumbling and SO much more. I can truly testify that there is no greater thing then knowing and trusting in Jesus Christ! I have prayed and prayed about what to write (maybe agonized a little :) and my prayer is that God would use these words for His glory. What I have written is a tip of the iceburg, because let's be honest you probably wouldn't read it if it was much longer. Maybe many stopped before even getting to this point. If you're still reading then I hope and pray you will ask God if there are something in these words for  you.

One last tid bit to those who are followers of Jesus Christ...are you boldly sharing your faith??? I have been so challenged of my need to be more bold. I have been asking God for boldness and though it's still hard at times, it's getting easier to share my faith with others. Our treasures are not on this earth (and I know how easy it is to get distracted!) but in heaven! I pray for my kids to be bold in their faith but if I am not being an example of that why should I expect them to be bold. We might be labeled or even persecuted for our faith, when we step out in boldness but how awesome will it be when we stand before Jesus and he says, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" Yep, that's my goal and I'm not ashamed to say it!