A Life Well Lived

As many of you know, I have very elderly grandparents. I recently wrote a post about my 106-year-old grandfather's life. Yesterday morning, he passed away. My parents were up in Canada with him just last month, at Thanksgiving, to celebrate my grandmother's 100th birthday. I am so glad they got to see him one last time.

My dad wrote this about his father yesterday, and told me I could post it at my blog. Here's what he said:

"My father, age 106, laid his burdens down and entered the presence of our Lord this Wednesday morning. Dad did not have an easy life. He was born in 1902 to a German family living in the Ukraine, and during World War I, Russia insisted that all of the Germans had to become refugees lest they side with Germany in the war. My father's family was forced to make the difficult trek to Afghanistan, and there his mother (my grandmother) died at the age of 46 and was buried in a mass grave in Kabul.  My father, age 12, did not have a chance to say goodbye to his mother and thought he'd never stop crying.

When the war was over in 1918, Dad and his father and two brothers, were able to return to their farm and several years later he was able to immigrate to Canada. There in a church, he met my mother who had just become a Christian through the preaching of an evangelist. Dad walked her home, asked her to marry him, and within three weeks they were married. That was 77 years ago.

I will spare you all the hardship my father endured both in Europe and also the challenge of raising five children on a small farm. To this day, we as children don't understand how he did it all: for example, having to shovel countless loads of grain years before grain augers were invented. In addition, he had panic attacks, and couldn't work for days at a time. We as children said "goodbye" to him a number of times, because he thought he was dying. We never dreamed we would see Dad live a long life.

We were wrong.

Dad had come to know Christ as Savior in the Ukraine and throughout his long life he loved God, read the Bible consistently and cared deeply only about that which was most important. "I read the whole book of Ephesians today," he told me when we visited him in Canada when he was about 101.

When he was a hundred, I knelt next to him and asked him to give me a blessing as the patriarchs did in Old Testament times. He held my head in both of his hands and prayed a prayer that "would make heaven shake" as I put it.

When we visited my parents this past May, my dad, now in a wheelchair, spoke very little. He recognized us, but only occasionally. So while we were sitting and talking with my mother, he appeared to be sleeping and was quiet the whole time. Then to our surprise, he said in a complete German sentence, "We have been speaking about the present…now it is time for us to speak about eternity and the glory of God!"

Well, Dad, now you can speak of eternity and the glory of God in a way that you have never done before. Thanks for all the hard work…the care you gave to me and my siblings. Thanks for the hundreds of hours of prayers offered up on behalf of all of us. I can only hope those prayers will be answered.

Now my dear mother, who enjoyed her 100th birthday party three weeks ago, is a widow, anxiously awaiting her own entry into heaven. She often prayed Dad would die before she did so that she would know he was well taken care of. God answered that prayer."

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Many people have told me that I have an amazing family, and that is very true. I do not take any of it for granted - the unconditional love, the support, the faith, the strong family bond.

I have a cousin, Dallas, who was killed in a car accident in 1981 at the age of 16. My own firstborn daughter was stillborn 13 years ago. Today I have been picturing my cousin, my daughter, and my grandfather hanging out in heaven. I think they're having a great time.

Comments

[Vinny]

From the sounds of it, you have a very awesome family and family history.

I am very sorry for your loss Lori.

[Lori]

Thank you, Vin. I really appreciate that. Hope you have a very merry Christmas and happy new year!

[Dana Lookadoo]

Lori,

I, I, I... stutter not knowing what to say. I am so sorry, yet at the same time, your grandfather's legacy and story changed my life and outlook this very moment after reading of his life and the love he shared with your grandmother, his family and for the Lord.

I know you have had more than your share of challenges, and the memories you shared in this post are going to touch so many people. I sure look forward to meeting all of them in Heaven, too! Maybe they'll run into quite a few members of my family and share stories.

[seosoeasy]

Lori,by reading this article i was interested to read about your previous posts "about my 106-year-old grandfather's life".Sure they are truly amazing and wonderful people and iam really sorry for the incident.

[Melanie]

Lori~
I had heard of your grandfather's death & have prayed for your family. Truly an amazing family...I always enjoyed hearing your Dad speak of his parents.
And I did not realize it had been 13 years since Sarah died...I do love your mental picture of several generations of your family rejoicing together in Heaven today & for eternity!
Best regards~Melanie