Angels from the realms of glory, wing your flight o’er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation’s story, now proclaim Messiah’s birth:
Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ, the newborn King.
I remember Daddy singing those words for a Christmas program at the little church we attended when I was a child. It’s a precious memory, especially now. Daddy went to be with Jesus this morning. He is worshiping the King of Kings!
He had suffered stomach distress for some weeks and was eating less and less. I had him taken to the hospital last Saturday when his pain seemed much worse. He didn’t want to be there but had resigned himself to the fact. He was a very sick man. The treatment he was receiving for C. diff didn’t seem to be working and yesterday he was aspirating and had to be put on oxygen. He could no longer have food or water unless it was pureed or thickened liquids.
I knew Daddy would not want to live like that and I prayed for God’s mercy. He died peacefully and I’m grateful he no longer suffers. Daddy lived a life of integrity and faithfulness to God. God blessed him with 95 years of life. He was the last of his siblings. I thank God for giving me a Daddy that set an excellent example of godly living for his family and everyone who knew him.
“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
Daddy told me this week the Lord was coming. I said, “Maybe, but no one knows for sure.” Today, the Lord came for Daddy.