First's

As I mourn the death of my sweet mother in law I think of all of the firsts we shared together. The first time we met; the first time we worked together; our first Thanksgiving and Christmas together.  There are so many wonderful memories that it is hard to recall them all. 

Unfortunately the year ahead will be full of firsts as well.  I will experience her birthday without buying her a gift; Easter without sharing a family dinner that she prepared; mother’s day without her in the pew at church; Thanksgiving without, again, sharing a meal that she prepared and Christmas without her sweet smile when she opens her gifts as all of her children and grandchildren gather around her chair.  Although we experienced Thanksgiving and Christmas in 2009 without her presence it was with the hope that she would get better and be home soon; this sadly did not happen.

I will have many firsts at our office that we have shared for the past 12 years as well. She was such a great help to me in so many ways but most of all she made me feel loved.  In her own special ways she made sure that I knew that I was important to her. My heart is full of memories that I will hold dear for the rest of my life.  Her quick wit and loving ways will be missed by me and all who knew her and our office, our lives, will not be the same without her.

Our lives are full of firsts.  We experience them every day.  The most important first of your life salvation, will determine the first, heaven or hell, of your death.  Where will your eternity begin?  Will it be in the presence of God or in eternal separation from Him?  When the reality of death is forced upon us it is vital to remember that each of us face this certainty.  We will all die but not all will go to heaven.  Please make your decision to follow Jesus today because you don’t know what first you will experience tomorrow. 

SCRIPTURES

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel's voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will always be with the Lord.  1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

God raised up His Servant and sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways."  Acts 3:26

All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on His left.  "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  Matthew 25:32-34