IN LOVING MEMORY - Confident and Comforted

ERNEST TED HASTINGS

1927 - 2011

Christmas Day - 2011  
The last picture I took of Daddy, 5 days before he went to Heaven.

     Yesterday, January 4th, we put my daddy’s body in the ground.  Note that I said it was his body or, as my husband put it, his “earth suit" that we buried. After a long illness, my Dad is finally through with hospitals, rehab and dialysis. For the last three years, his one kidney had done it’s best to keep up, but even dialysis could no longer do the job.  The cancer in his prostate, although "under control", had also, I’m sure, taken its toll.  His tired old heart, after three stents, congestive heart failure and a triple by-pass, could no longer take the strain. Consequently, on December 30, around 8:30 p.m., he took his last labored breath, his heart stopped and Daddy left that poor, old, worn-out “earth suit” behind.   No more pain.  No more suffering.  No more fighting to get better.

      His “earth suit” is in the ground but, rest assured, my Daddy is not!  

 Corinthians 5:8 (KJV)

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 

     

     How precious are the promises of our Heavenly Father!  He told us that we can be “confident” that, if we have accepted his forgiveness, his sacrifice for our sins and His gift of salvation then, when we leave our body in death, we are immediately ushered into the Lord’s presence!  According to Dad, he accepted Jesus as his Savior in a little Baptist church in Louisiana at around the age of 7 or 8 years old!  So, what does that mean?

     That means that, even as I write this, my two sisters and I have two daddies watching over us, and my earthly daddy and my Heavenly Daddy are enjoying each other’s company!   As I write this, He is already enjoying a family reunion with his parents, two brothers and a sister that went before him! He has met, and is probably spoiling his great-grandbabies, my grandchildren, the three babies our daughter miscarried.  As I write this, I am happy to know that Daddy is no longer so tired and so sick and full of pain!

     I will miss his “daddy hugs and kisses”, his silly jokes and funny sayings, and his stubborn ways.  As with most families, Dad and I occasionally had our disagreements and didn’t always see eye to eye.  But, no matter what, I never doubted my daddy’s unconditional love, a sure love that always gave me a feeling of belonging and security.  Yes, there is a lot I will miss, but I would never want to bring him back and take him from the peace and the wondrous splendor he is now enjoying.

     I ask for your prayers, not just for me, but also for my mother, my two younger sisters, his grandchildren and his remaining brother and sister.  We sorrow for our loss, but we rejoice in Dad’s gain!  We rejoice in the blessed hope of our Wonderful Redeemer and, in the difficult days ahead, we will rely upon the Holy Comforter to hold us close and whisper to our aching hearts His Words of love, consolation and reassurance.  We will find our confidence and comfort in Him!  Of that, I am sure!  

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 (KJV)

(13) But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. (14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 

This picture was taken on October 6th,
Mom and Dad’s 61st Anniversary.
The next day he went into the hospital.
He never made it home.

     We love you, Daddy, and we will miss you so much.  But we will see you again, and never ever have to say goodbye!  

Revelation 21:4 (KJV)

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.