My Grandfather passed away Sunday night. The family asked me to participate in the funeral service which was a great honor. The following are some of the thoughts I shared at the service, maybe minus the desire to seek a good laugh, which always makes me feel better when I’m speaking.
Pink Canada Mints. They always sat on my grandfathers dresser, and we grandkids would always get into the jar and take a few for ourselves. The moment I saw them at the funeral home I had to laugh because that was one of the first things I pictured when thinking of Pap Brown. Those little pink mints are “good stuff”. And the “good stuff” reminds us that there is a good and loving God that we serve. The funeral home started with tons of these pink mints by the end of the night there was only about 10 left. My cousins and I once again couldn’t resist taking a few (dozen) of these mints. We all had pink tongues. I claimed that I ate so many my pee was pink but that was a bit of an exaggeration. Grandpap Brown knew that serving God was “good stuff”. It made me think of Psalm 34: – It says taste and see that the Lord is good. There is so much good stuff that we can taste, that we can see and know that the Lord is good. We just miss it sometimes.
I know that hanging out with my family and cousins to celebrate our grandfather’s life. Was nothing but “good stuff” I could taste it and I could see it and I know that our Lord is good!
I’ll always remember things like free hair cuts at Eppinger’s and pizza at Chubbie Chucks. He offered to pay for all of our haircuts if we went with him to Eppingers Barber Shop. Grandpap sitting at the dinner table just eating hot peppers out of a jar. I’ll remember how he made it clear that he and his wife still got it on in their later years. (I always wondered if he should be talking about this, or even more so, doing this. Couldn’t they hurt themselves?) My mom still makes these type of jokes and comments today so I guess that runs in the family. I’ll remember weird statues and wood carvings from all my grandfathers missions trips. And I’ll remember how he loved to be the highest bidder at the family reunion auctions, and that his family was the largest! It’s all “good stuff” that I can taste and see. It’s all evidence that the Lord is good!
It makes me sad to know I won’t see him again in this lifetime. I wish I would have visited him more. (I only live on the same road as he did). But this weekend was about celebrating his life because that is what they are doing in heaven. My grandfather was a kingdom builder. Every person that was in that church yesterday had somehow been impacted by Bill Brown. Just the mere fact that they were sitting in that church, a church that he so faithfully served in was a testimony to that. When kingdom builders come home there is rejoicing. Can you taste it? Can you see it? It’s good “stuff”!!!
