13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
1 Thessalonians 4
Hello, I am Jay Thomas Todd, John Connor Todd’s youngest brother.
The verse I read is a joyful statement, a statement of hope that I first came to know when my pastor read it to me on the occasion the death of my father, of John’s father. It is a verse that comforts us who remain. These few simple words provide us assurance that our faithful lives are not in vain.
When we think of my brother John we do not need to worry for he was faithful.
Arriving here yesterday I encamped at his home.There sitting with his beloved family I heard of how reliable he was in conducting his tasks at this very church. Apparently he was quite deft at calling everyone on his phone tree andat cooking at the men’s breakfasts. He was faithfully responsible in the carrying out the obligations the church asked of him.
When John retired from the United States Army he was a Lieutenant Colonel. This is a rank accorded to few. You don’t get to that rank without being faithful, faithful to your country and faithful to your community.
Look at his wife Gayla, and his sons Cameron, Connor and Christian
and what do you see? I see the strength of their bonds to each other and to my brother now expressed in deep, deep grief. John Connor Todd was faithful; faithful to his family.
When you look at my sister Joy and me what you see today are two people with aching hearts. Our hearts are burdened because our brother stayed connected with use in love; he was faithful to the bonds of family.
While in the end John was separated from his daughters Courtney and Najat by the wide Atlantic Ocean he was faithful to them in his love, care and concern.
Today we are allowed the pain of separation. A pain we feel because someone we have loved is no longer here with us. We are separated at least for this moment. We are not fated to unending and unrelenting grieving for we have hope. We have the hope and the promise of something better. What we have the hope of is that beautiful reward that John now knows and is experiencing because of his faithfulness.
I started with the bible and I will close with popular song.
Kiss me goodnight and say my prayers
Leave the light on at the top of the stairs
Tell me the names of the stars up in the sky
A tree taps on the window pane
That feeling smothers me again
Daddy, is it true that we all have to die?
At the top of the stairs is darkness
At the top of the stairs is darkness
I closed my eyes and when I looked
Your name was in the memorial book
And what had become of all the things we planned
I accepted the commiserations
Of all your friends and your relations
But there's some things I still don't understand
You were so tall, how could you fall?
Some photographs of a summer's day
A little boy's lifetime away
Is all I've left of everything we've done
Like a pale moon in a sunny sky
Death gazes down as I pass by
To remind me that I'm but my father's son
I offer up to you, this tribute
I offer up to you, this my tank park salute.
No comments:
Post a Comment