"Look at the Lights"

Crossing the Bar

Sunset at Ransom Canyon 

Alfred, Lord Tennyson 

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.

(from Wikipedia)

Most of us hope our earthly day—the span of life—to be long, but for some it is shorter than we can hope to understand. My brother, Bobby Joe Gregg, died at 20 months of age from diphtheria. I am sad for myself because I never knew him. I look forward to meeting him on the other side of life.

I cannot stop wondering whether he will be a toddler or whether he will be an adult. Since marriage as we know on earth does not exist in heaven, I cannot imagine that my parents are taking care of him. It seems that the children have a special place near the Almighty God’s throne. Bobby Joe arrived before our parents, and he was already settled in.

When he left this earth, my mother, who was twenty-three, stood over his hospital bed. She told me many times about his death. At the instant he died, she saw beams of light extending from his eyes to the ceiling. About that time the nurse came into the room.

Mother told the nurse, “I believe he’s gone.”

“How do you know?”

“Look at the lights.”

“Oh,” the nurse whispered as she stood in awe.

The nurse’s lack of surprise led my mother to think the hospital staff had experienced similar things before. Surely God’s angels tenderly carried the toddler to his new home, placed a loving hand on Mother’s shoulder, and helped the nurse do her work.

What joy there must be in heaven for him, for her, for his father, and for his older brother! Together and with their other loved ones who have left this earth, they remain in the presence of the Father in heaven.