Not Lost

We were at Gordon Martin's funeral this morning. He was killed in a motorcycle accident last Saturday, April 14. This has been quite a week for the Nevin Martin family. In addition to Gordon's death, his sister Heidi, who was riding with him, was flown to Hershey Med with a broken pelvis and wrist. She was able to be at the funeral, but in a wheelchair. Then on Wednesday Gordon's brother, Rodney, and his wife had a little boy. I don't know what name they were planning to give him, but his name is Gordon. Rodney's wife was there too, but also in a wheelchair. And then there was also his fiancee, Ruth Ann. I don't know if they had a date set for their wedding but they were making wedding plans.
It is 13 years since Steve's death, but I have not forgotten how it feels and well know what the Martins have to face in the coming days. We've been to some viewings for young men in the last 13 years but this was the first time we were at the funeral of one. It brought back a lot of memories. I thought they had the kind of service Gordon would have enjoyed. It was nice they paid tribute to his fiancee with a couple songs.
One of the things the minister said that I heartily agreed with was this statement. "Hang onto the Lord for dear life. That's all you have to hang on to." I just don't know how people that don't have the Lord get through these kind of things. If there were no hope beyond the grave there would be no way to cope with such a loss. But I always come back to the thought that things are only lost when we don't know where they are. When we know our loved ones are with the Lord, then they are not lost---just temporarily out of our sight. As long as they live in our hearts and memories, they are still with us.