Bill Cook

Reflecting back on the events that have transpired over the last week has been truly illuminating.  My PawPaw Cook left this world for the next on Tuesday morning.  But it doesn’t begin at the ending…but close.

I knew that he was starting to get weaker so I gathered up the family and headed to Collinsville to see him.  He was in the nursing home for rehab but his spirits were still good.  He and I talked and had a great visit.  Out of the blue he started talking about Granny’s illness (aneurism) and death and how he had often wished that God would take him home.  He was ready but he knew that God still had work for him here. 

After a series of surgeries, strokes and recovery, my grandfather was in and out of lucidity (for lack of better word).  Last Tuesday he told my dad that “Jesus was coming to get him on Wednesday”.  Obviously PawPaw was not a prophet because it was the next Tuesday.  

I am grateful that my dad’s retirement didn’t go as he had planned.  I am grateful that he had time to spend with PawPaw so that he could have the closure that he would need.  

        I am grateful that PawPaw had no regrets.  I believe he even planned out the funeral beforehand.  He was ready - both physically and spiritually.

At the visitation and funeral wave after wave after wave of people stopped by to express their love for him.  No one that I have ever heard had anything negative to say about him.  What is more is I have never heard anything but gracious adjectives to describe this man.  So here I am at this point and I will tell you what God has revealed to me so far:

1. I further realize that nothing good can come apart from Christ.  There is no way that one man can impact so many people in a relatively short time (91 years is not a long time in the span of eternity) without Jesus being the center.
2. For as long as I can remember, I hated the song Beulah Land.  I thought it was extremely hokey.  While I still think the music is terrible the words are extraordinary.  Even in death my PawPaw is still teaching me things.
3. There is a peace that you cannot explain (almost as if it surpasses all understanding :)) that is felt and known when people of God pray for it and the people of God understand the eternal ramifications of the death that we are mourning.  It is more of a celebration and mourning of our flesh.  
4. The reason he was the greatest man that I have ever known is because he was seeking after the greatest man to ever walk the earth.  He was fully God and fully man and the grace that he displayed and proclaimed will never be fully grasped.  Even when we can finally behold his full glory I don’t know if we can comprehend how wonderful and complete His grace is.
5. His faithfulness to Granny (not just matrimonial but also while she was incapacitated) was indicative of a greater part of his character.  

I am grateful and count it blessed that my kids knew PawPaw.  I am sure that they will not remember much about him as they grow older.  It is my prayer that as I mature in Christ and as I grow in Him, that He, by grace, continues to mold me in His image that they see glimpses of PawPaw as he emulated Christ.