Like this:

my family was preparing a slideshow for my grandfather’s memorial service, and my uncle brought out my grandfather’s bible for my brother to photograph… right?! my grandfather has a bible?! okay, it’s technically a new testament-psalm-& proverb bible. but it’s God’s word! and inside the cover, he wrote this:

“in this life, although my flesh is in pain, but in my heart i have joy! because the Lord is with me! the precious blood of Christ! it washed me of my sins, and He lives in my heart. God grant me wisdom, courage, and conviction to overcome all hardships to finish all He has planned for me.”

i knew my grandfather was a “christian,” but i only heard it from the rest of the family (and not that often). the only time i’ve heard him refer to his faith was to get out of visiting a mosque during our trip to malaysia. however, reading this gives me a lot of peace. i’ve spent some time flipping through the bible to see what verses he had highlighted, and it seemed like he had a good grasp of what the gospel was (i wonder what he was thinking when i tried to share the gospel with my grandma. why didn’t he say anything?). i came upon a passage he had marked, and it feels like a message from God to reassure me:

“but we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. for since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. for this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. and the dead in Christ will rise first. then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. therefore encourage one another with these words.”

i really want to keep his bible… but i can’t decide if it would be better to leave it here, in case anyone feels inspired to read through it…

looking back, grandpa always exuded a sense of calm and nonchalance. i had always attributed this quality to his super chill personality, but now i can see how it could have been a product of his faith. i cannot know it for certain, but i do believe my grandfather is with the Lord. he is in God’s hands, and i can rejoice in the fact that one day we will see each other again. praise God for His amazing grace!

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