“How is Elijah doing?” is a common question that I’ve received after the death of Tyla’s mom. People wonder how we explain that she’s not here anymore or how we tiptoe around the topic of death. Hospice gave us a 20-30 sheets of paper about talking about death with a child. I tossed that in the trash and reached for the Bible instead.
Elijah understands that Nancy is dead and that we will never see her again on earth. But he also understands that Nancy believed that Jesus died for her sins, so when she died, God welcomed her into heaven. He knows that we’ll see her again when we die too.
Elijah has been a big comfort through all of this. When Pastor came over a day or two before Nancy died, we all had a devotion together. Elijah saw one of us crying pretty hard and he quietly got up, walked over, put his hand on their knee and said, “Don’t be sad. She’s going to heaven to be with Jesus!”
I think the hardest part of this for Elijah has been seeing people cry. He knows that heaven is a wonderful place and he knows that believers will go there so he doesn’t understand why we are crying. How true! He has been a model for us all to look up to.
Matthew 18:2-4 (NIV)
2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Heaven
Who knows what really goes on in the mind of a four year old, but he seems to be taking this all in stride. For the past couple months, I’ve been preparing Elijah for the death of his grandma. He knew she was sick and we talked about how some day she wouldn’t be around anymore. That was hard for him to understand, but what he did understand that she was going to join Jesus in heaven. There have been a number of times when he has walked over to a crying family member, stood there quietly and said, “It’s ok. She’s with Jesus now.” Oh the faith of a child!
We are all comforted knowing that Nancy is in heaven right now. There are still a lot of tears as we come to grips with the fact that we’re not going to see her again here on earth, but the separation is temporary because we’ll be reunited in heaven. Nancy knew that she was a sinner and deserved only God’s wrath and punishment. But when Jesus died on that cross 2000 years ago, he paid for her sins and she believed that. The Bible says that anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. It really is just that simple. Heaven is our free gift and requires zero effort on our part (thank goodness because I know I’d screw it up if any of it depended on me!) Reject that message and the result is much different.
If you’re in the area, you’re welcome to attend the funeral on Friday at 3pm at Calvary. Don’t expect to hear how Nancy was “a great person” or other common funeral quotes. Instead, you’ll hear something like what I wrote above: Nancy was a sinner like all of us, but when she died and stood before the judgement seat, God declared her not guilty, not because of anything she had done, but because Jesus had already paid the debt for her sins and she believed that.