It is not death to die
To leave this weary road
And join the saints who dwell on high
Who’ve found their home with God
It is not death to close
The eyes long dimmed by tears
And wake in joy before Your throne
Delivered from our fears...
We all love a good story with a hero and a villain. We resonate with the struggle between good and evil and feel a sense of justice and satisfaction when evil is vanquished and the hero is triumphant. In a way, we long to be that hero, if even just in our own small way.
This concept of the hero archetype is prevalent throughout the cannon of literature and is certainly a concept that resonates loudly within us. I'm sure you could say that it is buried deeply in our DNA. Whether it be our favorite fictional protagonist or someone in life we know, we long for the perfect hero to look up to and admire.
Though we speak of the hero archetype in the context of a singular individual, arrayed in perfection, in reality we practically apply the hero archetype to a myriad of individuals - not for the totality of their perfection, but because they exhibit some characteristic that we admire. They have patterned their life in such a way that we want to follow.
As I seek to grow personally, I have found a number of people that I look up to for various reasons - my heroes. In fact, there is one particular individual whom I admire that I would pay to fly cross-country and cover the cost of dinner for the opportunity to spend an hour each month to be mentored.
It is good to seek out these people. They inspire us to become better, exhort us to work hard and encourage us along the way when life gets tough. The writer of Hebrews speaks of this idea of a cloud of mentors helping us and encouraging us in life. On the heels of a long list of people who lived as individuals of exemplary faith, the author writes. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is before us" (Hebrews 12:1, ESV).
As I write this, I am sitting in a dark hotel room waiting for my kids to fall asleep. In a whirlwind trip, that would in any other context be considered crazy, we drove across 3 states and pushed the limits of fatigue to be with family as we mourn the loss and celebrate the life of my wife's grandfather, Russ Ebersole.
14 years ago, when my wife and I got married, I had the great fortune to join a large and vibrant extended family. Each of the 8 families have a unique set of personalities that when combined can, and at times have, overwhelmed the casual onlooker or new spousal addition. Family reunions become grand affairs defying the schedule of nocturnal norms in attempt to be together and get caught up. And tying all of these families together was Russ and his wife Nancy.
For the last decade and a half, I have known Grandpa Ebersole as the the patriarch of the family (this said in the most endearing way despite our contemporary, cultural distaste for the word). I have known him as a man who loved God and his family; a man who served faithfully as a missionary in the Philippines; a man who faithfully, daily prayed for each of his children and grandchildren. I knew him as the officiant at our wedding. I knew him as a man of quiet dignity.
Today, as I heard him eulogized by those who knew him even better, he was described as competitive and driven yet filled with compassion and love for those he encountered. He loved the children around him and echoed the request of Christ beckoning the children to come. He was described as a man of gravitas yet filled with great mischief. In life he faced great adversity, but yet did not utter accusation or complaint. In short, he was a man who's life was characterized by faithfulness: to his God, to those whom he served and to his family.
As I think of Grandpa Ebersole, he certainly makes my list of heroes. He serves as an example to me as I look at my life of what it means to be a man, a father, a leader and a friend. I am very appreciative of the short period of time that I was given to live in the presence of Grandpa Ebersole. And even though he is now gone, as I look at the cowlick on my son's forehead and gaze into my daughter's blue eyes, I see his character and legacy reflected in the faces of my children.
As a life overflowing with love for other and service, Grandpa Ebersole died having fully lived. Though his absence today was mourned, his life was celebrated by his 8 children and spouses, 37 grandchildren and spouses, and 49+ great grandchildren and countless lives that he touched. Our sorrow, is a measure of the worth of the one we lost, but we do not wish him back, for to do so would be to call him away from the the presence of his Savior.
It is not death to fling
Aside this earthly dust
And rise with strong and noble wing
To live among the just
It is not death to hear
The key unlock the door
That sets us free from mortal years
To praise You evermore
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