What Kind of Sendoff?

Last week I went to a memorial service for an elderly man from the church where I grew up. He was a man who lived his life well and earned a good sendoff. He did a lot of things, influenced a lot of people. He and his wife were married for over 60 years and their kids and grand kids spoke of how much they miss him but I also know they're making extra efforts to be there for their mom/grandma. There was a huge show of love and affection at the service, not just from the family but their friends who gather to say good-bye. I saw men that I've known for years tear up as they talked about how much they were going to miss this man. He definitely made an impact on a lot of lives, mine included.

It got me thinking. My grandpa likes to say that you never know how good someone is until their funeral. You don't normally hear people spewing hateful words at a funeral. You hear them talking about the good things. There's a difference though, between people being sincere at the service, like the one I was at, or people just saying nice things because they know it's expected.

I've been to a lot of funerals. Some are really good, like the one I was just at. It's a time to celebrate the life someone led. A time to remember and say good-bye. It's sad but it's not devastating. When the deceased is a believer we're able to gather together knowing that we will see that person again. It doesn't stop us from grieving but it does make a difference.

Other funerals are devastating. When you're only left with questions and you have no idea if they ever made their peace with God it's a tragic thing. There's no way around that. There's an emptiness and no hope. 

And some people, even though they were a believer, don't seem to leave much behind. Those funerals bring a different kind of sadness. It's the sadness of knowing that someone had so much to give and they never did anything with that.

My prayer is that when it's my time to die that the Lord will greet me with the words from Matthew 25:21, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." At my funeral I hope that there are lots of people, talking about how I lived my life as a faithful servant of the Lord. I want people to discuss the difference I made in their lives, not because of anything I did but because I lived out my faith and made a point of praying for them. 

The only way for people to tell those stories is to live my life that way now. There's no guarantees so there's no way to know how long you have left before it's your funeral. If that day was tomorrow what would people say? What kind of sendoff would you get? If it's one you wouldn't like then start changing that now so when the time does come you can get the kind of sendoff you would hope for.