Absent from the Body, Present with the Lord

“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” (II Corinthians 5:8)

Following a series of strokes and several stays in the hospital, my father became a prisoner in his house of clay. He had been a very strong man, farming for a living until age thirty-six when he answered God’s call to preach the Gospel and pastor churches.

He loved to sing bass in quartets and in the congregation. When that first stroke came, his preaching and singing ended. His body also was failing and he was not physically able to work. He was a prisoner in his house of clay. On that Sunday evening when he passed away he was released from his prison and ushered into the presence of the Lord.

Every time I conduct a funeral for a Christian, a child of God, I am reminded one more time of the joy that will be mine when the prison doors of this old house swing open and I step into the presence of my Lord.