Our last enemy - Death

Welcome back, my beautiful readers.

From left to right:
Scott, Brent, Mary, James
and Makayla in front

Well, my health is deteriorating, I'm putting on weight, and I don't know if I have this 'dog awful' headache because of my back, or because I think I've been drinking to much coffee so I switched to de-caf and that gave me this 'dog awful' headache, or both, but I find myself in pain, and thinking about the loss of my baby sister, Mary. And this 'dog awful' headache has been with me for a few days, but it paid me a particularly specific visit in the middle of the night that forced me to pop pill... (Joy...not!!!) I hate taking pills, so... I sit here with this 'dog awful' headache as a constant companion, and thoughts of THE LOSS of my baby sister. We lost Mary in February 2014. She was four years younger than me. And it is weird to think of loosing, outliving a younger sibling. And because she lived in New Zealand with her family, a good husband Brent, and her 3 children, Scott, James and Makayla, we were not close, which is something I regret deeply. And because I am this 'rough' and 'tough' kinda kid, I wouldn't tell anyone or let papa tell anyone that she had died. There were like three people who knew that my sister died, papa told them, and of those three, two of them respected my wishes not to mention it to me but to wait until I brought it up. I didn't want sympathy, condolences, tears. I wanted to be strong. No crying in public for me... that I did in private.

The first time I saw Makayla
at the Airport in Nashville, TN

Mary and Makayla made a bird feeder
out of a pine cone using peanut butter
 to stick the seeds

Makayla riding the escalator at
the Airport in Nashville, TN

Mary did come stateside for a visit with Makayla when Makayla was a wee little thing, and my sister had changed so much that when she stepped off the plane in Nashville, my mom and I did not recognize her. She had the gastrointestinal surgery and had lost a LOT of weight. She looked good. Later pictures, though, would show me a sister who looked terminal. Little did I know that one day I would loose her due to complications from that surgery.

My favorite photo of Makayla

Yep. Death is the last enemy. It robbed our family of my dad back in 1986, it robbed my sister of her youngest son who took his own life. Mary had asked me I wanted anything said at his funeral. I initially said no, but then later, after thinking about it, I said yes. So I typed up the following...

My Nephew James Lemon

I met my nephew James, only once, when he was very young, before he moved to New Zealand from the United States, so I did not have the pleasure of knowing James, of watching him grow up, getting to know him. Distance has a way of limiting many things. However, I know that there is coming a time when distance will not be an issue. There is a hope that I entertain, a hope that I am thankful to be able to share with all those listening here today, the hope promised to us from God, though the pages of The Bible.

(Ecclesiastes 3:19) reminds us of this: 'For there is an eventuality as respects the sons of mankind and an eventuality as respects the beast, and they have the same eventuality. As the one dies, so the other dies; and they all have but one spirit, so that there is no superiority of the man over the beast, for everything is vanity.' All of us are sadly aware of this fact because James is gone from us. (Psalm 146:4) Also tells us : 'His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; In that day his thoughts do perish.'

All of us can draw comfort from the scriptures that James is no longer suffering because (Ecclesiastes 9:5 and 10) tell us: 'For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, (10) All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in She′ol, (the grave) the place to which you are going.'

God, through the ransom of Christ, allows us to entertain the hope of seeing James again as stated at (1 Corinthians 15:22) which reads: 'For just as in Adam all are dying, so also in the Christ all will be made alive.' It is a hope that according to (Acts 24:15) there is going to be 'a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.'

'Then the saying will take place that is written: “Death is swallowed up forever.”+55  “Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?”+56  The sting producing death is sin,+ and the power for sin is the Law.*+ 57  But thanks to God, for he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!+' found at (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)

My Nephew Scott Lemon

Please, allow me to share this one final thought with everyone. We have the hope of seeing James again right here on Earth, another beautiful promise from God as stated in his word the Bible. Yes, right here on Earth! (Psalm 37:11, 29) reads 'But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, And they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace. (29) The righteous themselves will possess the earth, And they will reside forever upon it.'

Mary and her Husband Brent

So, as stated at (Psalm 37:34) we need to: 'Hope in Jehovah (God) and keep his way, And he will exalt you to take possession of the earth.'

My nephew Scott, my niece Makayla

Thank you, Brent and Mary, Scott and Makayla, for letting me share with you this hope I have within me. Because I have experienced death so many times, this has been my Favorite scripture, my Favorite promise, from our creator, Jehovah God, please: Be comforted. (Revelation 21:4) “And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”

I do not know if this was read at James' funeral, and I do not know if it brought my sister comfort. She never said, and I never asked. I do know that it brought me comfort, and I hope, my dear readers, that it brings you comfort. Because, we have all been affected by our last enemy, death, that robbed my Brother-in-law of his wife and my nephew Scott and niece Makayla of their mom, my mom of her other daughter, and me of my sister.

And as I look through my sister's Face Book Page, I am sad all over again for the loss. Not being able to share things with her anymore... and BTW: she is one of the first people to get me hooked on Face Book, my daughter was the other. But I am hopeful that one day, I will see her again, in the resurrection.

I will end this now. I hope I didn't bumm anyone out to much. And since I still have this 'dog awful' headache, I'm gunna pop some pills and watch a little T.V., with my critters, while eating popcorn and drinking Diet DR. PEPPER, and decaf coffee. (Yep, I'm a heavy drinker. Well, not really a heavy drinker so much as a variety drinker.)

Additional information on the resurrection can be found at:

jw.org - Hope for the Dead—The Resurrection