“Death is not a chamber, but a passage; not an abiding-place, but a crossing over; not a state, but an act, an experience, a crossing of the bar, a going within the veil” (F. B. Meyer).

Today, I went to a celebration of the life of one of my friend’s father. He had recently passed away at 84. I can’t say that I knew him, having only met him once when he gave me and my friend a ride to the airport about 12 years ago.

Sitting at the funeral service, I came to respect him as a man of God after hearing all the testimonies and stories. One thing I took away was that he loved his God and his family, serving in his church for many years as an elder, Sunday School teacher, and greeter. He was known for his faithfulness and generosity.

I also learned of his love of cats and how he also loved to travel in his Jeep to national parks and historic sights across the country, doing thorough research beforehand to make the experience more enjoyable. As a fellow cat lover and Jeep enthusiast, I can’t very well fault his tastes.

I’m certain that a mark of a man’s wealth isn’t a bank account or a mansion but the number of people who speak well of him and can truly say that they loved him and that he loved them. A life of being faithful to serve in small ways over years is a blessed life indeed.

I can only say that I wish I could have known him better. I would have loved to hear his insights on the Bible as well as some of the current issues facing the nation. I imagine he’d have his own unique take, as I gather he was a militant individualist who blazed his own path rather than follow where others have been.

I think he would have loved that the preacher basically presented the gospel at the end of the service. He would have wanted people to have a chance to respond to the gospel that God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. He’d have wanted to know that all his friends and family could know that Jesus loves them.

It did my heart good to hear those words spoken in his honor. Though I understand that his body might have been in that casket in front of the chapel, I remember the words that Billy Graham once said: “Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.”

I know that he is now more alive than ever. He is more healed and whole than ever. He is standing before Jesus right now hearing the blessed words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”