Good-Bye

I've shared several other posts on this blog about our family visiting my Grandpa Emch. One week ago today, he exchanged his earthly body for a heavenly one.

We knew this day was immanent. Ever since a major surgery he had last August, his health, and his ability to think clearly, had steadily declined as his body began to shut down. The news of his passing, while not surprising, was still strange. He's been around all of my life. I used to climb up on his lap as a little girl and share ice cream cones with him. He would hold me and tell me how special I was. He took us for motorcycle rides and told us stories about life when he was a boy.

But after hearing so many captivating accounts of his life, I didn't realize how much about my Grandpa I never knew - until my Uncle Daryle shared at his Celebration of Life service on Wednesday. I always knew that Grandpa and Grandma left their church, which was really more like a family, shortly after they married, and that this was prompted by a pursuit of Biblical Truth. Their faith was in Christ alone, not a works-based religion. I knew that they were shunned by friends and family alike afterward and as a result they faced much loneliness. What I didn't know was how much hostility they faced, even to the point that my Grandpa's own parents burned the Theological books he had purchased while he fought in WWII. Still, he pursued the truth.

I knew Grandpa had fought in WWII, as a medic. What I didn't know was that he was sent to the wrong location at first and asked to handle a gun, and because of his convictions he refused, asking to be transferred. He endured hostility and persecution at the hands of fellow soldiers and officers alike, until the situation was finally corrected.

Grandpa was not the perfect husband, father, or grandfather. He had a fierce temper and could be very harsh at times, especially to those he was closest to. But I've gained a new respect for him, and for the legacy he left his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. His life wasn't easy. Despite losing friends, family and a business he'd devoted countless hours and energy to (in a fire back in the '70's), he remained strong. And there is no doubt that He loved his Savior.

I pray that I can pass his strength, and pursuit of truth, on to my own children. I pray that I will be faithful to share with them the way that God worked in the life of their great-grandparents and has continued to work in their parents. And I love that I will someday see him again in heaven. Good-bye Grandpa . . . until we meet again.