The In Between

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb...Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book.” Psalm 139:13-16. “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world...I leave the world and go to the Father.” John 16:28

I love how the New Testament echoes so much from the Old Testament throughout Scripture. God was so faithful this morning to connect these beautiful spiritual dots as I arrived at my meditation with a heavy heart for one of my best friends. She and her family will celebrate the life of her dad today, and will walk out the reality of our passage this morning. It will be painful on this side of Heaven, but today we fix our eyes on the eternal truth of the joy of him returning Home.

Her dad was created and formed 82 years ago by the very hands of the One who entrusted him to this world. God saw his life rolled out in a beautiful manner before he ever took one breath or lived one day on this earth. Because of the sacrifice of Christ, her dad was given a way back to be with the Father who created him so long ago. Christ explained to his loved ones that He came forth from God into this world, and He would return to God to be with Him forever. But the explanation didn’t make the pain go away for those He would leave behind, but it did fulfil a beautiful promise that we, too, have for our lives.

We have been created with such amazing blessings over the course of our lives. We enjoy the love, laughter, and fellowship of those we call our own. From our parents we learn and grow...from our parents we watch and emulate...from our parents we fully know we are loved and cared for. And yet, what we know in part down here is so much less than what we fully gain in Heaven. In the words and thoughts of Jesus, my friend’s dad lived out his ordained days in faith and purpose. He came from the hands of God but has returned into the arms of God forever. The in-between life he lived so well with his precious family is what makes today so difficult. But just knowing that his Homegoing is a fulfillment of a promise that the Father whispered into his created son 82 years ago, might just make today a little bit easier for his family. I thank God for this man’s life, I thank God for the love he instilled in all, and I thank God for a way back Home with reunions abound.