A New Beginning
On August 11, 1985 at 9:00 PM my older son, Kevan, went home to be with the Lord. The family was gathered around his bed as he stopped breathing and was pronounced dead; we had been by his bedside for many hours as he steadily declined and finally left his mortal body. For several hours he had been unresponsive so we were not sure he could even hear us. Just in case he could, I had started reading the gospel of John out loud until I got to John 14 and had only read a few verses when I started sobbing uncontrollably; the family understood my distress and waited patiently for me to regain my self-control.
After that we talked quietly and waited for the inevitable; at 9:00 PM that evening he was gone; we gathered around his bed and I led the family in prayer. We thanked the Lord for the precious life that had been entrusted to us by the Lord and asked that we might honor his life by demonstrating the sufficiency of God’s grace by living our lives, over the coming days, filled with faith and joy in the Lord.
We desired his memorial service to honor him and the Lord as we suspected several unbelieving friends would attend the service; we wanted his service to be a memorial to a life well lived, not a mourning for a life lost; a service that clearly displayed the joy and hope available to all who are born-again in Jesus Christ. By God’s grace we were able to do just that; a joyful reflection on a beloved life that had gone home to be with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I spoke during the service and told those assembled there how exciting the last few days must have been for Kevan, home with the Lord and seeing and hearing amazing things we cannot even imagine. Four years before his death Kevan had been diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer, an Astrocytoma grade 3 and had only three months to live. The following years were a struggle for Kevan which had gotten ever more difficult as time passed. The last few months before his passing were particularly difficult for him and those who loved him.
He fought valiantly against the cancer and added four more years to his life before it finally sent him home; but in the end it took his mortal life. I call this “A New Beginning” because that is what really happened, our Kevan just moved on to his eternal home with the Lord. Kevan had been made in the image of God and the living essence which is Kevan, and for an all too brief a time occupied a mortal body of clay, had moved on to his eternal reward in the presence of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Our Common Heritage
We are all just like Kevan, all of us have been created in the image of God and are eternal; there will never be a time when we do not have a living presence in the universe. From a human perspective I still miss Kevan and have a picture of him on my desk; I see it and think about him many times each day. From a spiritual perspective I know that I shall someday see him again, as my brother in the family of God; the timing on that is in God’s hands and I rejoice in the perfection of all his decisions including calling Kevan home at age 28.
Fortunately, the Lord does not require my understanding, just my faith and I choose to trust him completely. I think, from time to time on David’s observation on the death of his son where in 2 Samuel 12:22-23 it is written:
22 David said, “While the baby was still alive, I fasted, and I cried. I thought, ‘Who knows? Maybe the Lord will feel sorry for me and let the baby live.’ 23 But now that the baby is dead, why should I fast? I can’t bring him back to life. Someday I will go to him, but he cannot come back to me.”
We rejoice in the 28 years we had with Kevan and have many happy memories of his precious life; now we can look forward to seeing him again at a time known only to the Lord.











Comments are Welcome