{"id":14,"date":"2008-07-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-02T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2009-09-30T20:43:34","modified_gmt":"2009-10-01T00:43:34","slug":"the-funeral-walk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/2008\/07\/02\/the-funeral-walk\/","title":{"rendered":"The Funeral Walk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere are no words\u201d was the only thing that I could think of\u00a0as we walked down the street behind the hearse that carried the body of our friends\u2019 son to the cemetery.
\nAround us were the sounds of songs sung to Mother Mary on behalf of the young man that had\u00a0died. Some of the words were as follows:<\/p>\n

“I hope to save my soul, with the help of God.
\nMy obedience of the Ten Commandments opens the gates of Heaven. ”<\/p>\n

These words really struck me as being so final, and eternally condemning. The depth of death struck such a blow, and carried with it a soul unprepared to meet his Maker. \"Gina\"All around us the doors of the stores and homes along the road were being closed in honor and respect of the mourners passing by. People were not talking to one another but rather walking in a somber way, slow and methodic. The father , surrounded by loved ones, was leaning on the casket in the open back of the hearse. Once we arrived at the cemetery, the songs echoed off the walls of a small, bare, cement corridor, adding to the somber atmosphere. Inside a small room to the left, the family waited as\u00a0the casket was once again opened for the family to say their last good bys to their loved one. No words were heard other than the sobbing of the mother and the young man’s wife. Then the\u00a0casket was closed again and\u00a0carried by the father, brother, and\u00a0cousins\u00a0to the burial plot.\u00a0 The\u00a0mourners followed. Once again no speeches, no words of encouragement, and no words of remembrance of the young\u00a0man who had died. As the casket was\u00a0lowered into the grave, the crowd erupted into applause. Then the only sound you could hear was the sobbing of the wife.<\/p>\n

As I looked around at the shaking shoulders of grown men and women in grief, I was reminded that death will come to us all.\u00a0 Where will you be at that moment? What state will your soul be in? Will you face the Lord in judgment or as His precious child coming home? I am sure that Carlos did not have time to think of all these things when he collided head on with another car.
\nOnly two days ago,\u00a0 Andy was speaking with Carlos about his kids, who are 4 years and 6 months old. Only two days ago, he was working on our van, repairing our problems, not looking to the eternal state of his own soul. Only two days ago, we didn\u2019t\u00a0know there wouldn\u2019t be a tomorrow for this man. Would things have been different? Would our conversation have had more meaning? Would we have been more bold to\u00a0share the Truth of God\u2019s Word one more time?<\/p>\n

Death is so final and often\u00a0so fast.\u00a0 Here in Brasil, the family has no time to process the events of the death. No time to think. As soon as the town hears of the death, they sit at the home of the family and mourn with them. For a day and a night they are there to offer silent comfort and support, and the next day\u00a0the loved one\u00a0is\u00a0buried.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Please pray for Carlos\u2019 wife, Nara,\u00a0and\u00a0 the\u00a0children, Mateus and Ana\u00a0Luiza,\u00a0for his\u00a0father Paulo and mother Maria das Dores,\u00a0that they would be drawn to Christ through their grief.\u00a0 Miles and Coleen (Andy\u2019s mom and dad) have had the opportunity to share God\u2019s Word with this family several times and also taught phase one of the chronological Bible teaching to Carlos and his wife. May the Lord use this to draw them to Himself. It isn\u2019t enough to hear the truth; each one must act on that knowledge. Tomorrow may never come for some.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The depth of death struck such a blow, and carried with it a soul unprepared to meet his Maker. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[300],"class_list":{"0":"post-14","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-family","7":"category-ministry","8":"tag-death","9":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}