Religion Today: When a Christian departs this earthly realm…
Guest Writer Spotlight: When a Christian departs this earthly realm… – Richard Lewis
Yesterday, Sue and I attended an outdoor celebration event for a longtime family friend who had died from Covid-19. To give you some idea of the casual nature of the event, I was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts. I kept asking Sue if she was sure about the casual dress code and she said she was. It was held in a park with sports fields nearby. It was the kind of place where our departed friend might be found coaching a sports team. This was a very different affair from the average memorial service. Children were playing games and adults were recounting old stories about their friend, while they ate their tacos, quesadillas and desserts.
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When a Christian departs this earthly realm, we are torn between the sadness and loss in our hearts and rejoicing that they are no longer suffering and that they are with the Lord. They may have left this earth while they were hooked up to a ventilator or oxygen but now they are free of all that. What will heaven be like? Perhaps it be like when we were children, when we ran and played all day long and then fell asleep at night without a care in the world?
Pastor Peter Marshall was speaking to a group of Military Cadets, just prior to the bombing at Pearl Harbor. Unknown to all was the fact that many of these young men would soon be called into action in WWII. As often happened, Peter felt God wanted for him to give a different message than the one he had originally planned and he changed the message at the last minute. He told the story of the young mother who had to face the bad news from the doctor that her young child was dying of a terminal illness. Her son would ask her all those questions about what it was going to be like to die and what Heaven would be like. The young mother was overcome with emotion and had to leave for another room to hide her tears. She prayed and asked God to give her some way to explain death and heaven to her son.
And then, in an instant, God revealed to her the answer. She asked her son if he could remember what happened the last time he had grown sleepy and fallen asleep on his parents’ bed. He said he did. She asked if he remembered how he had woken up the next day in his own bed. While he was asleep, the strong arms of his father had picked him up and taken him to his proper place of rest. In the same way, she explained, when it was time for him to die, the strong arms of the Lord Jesus would come and pick him up to take him where he belonged. The young boy seemed satisfied and was infused with new courage for what lay ahead and a short time later he was gone to be with Jesus.
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What a beautiful simple picture of the Savior’s love and that his strong arms are there for you and me. Those loving arms that have been for us in life will also be there for us in death.
Psalm 136:12 “With a mighty hand and outstretched arm; His love endures forever.”
1 Corinthians 2:9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him.
Richard Lewis is a graduate of Arizona State University (Advertising) and California Baptist University (Computer Information Systems). Richard and his wife Sue met while they served as staff members at Campus Crusade for Christ for 8 years in the 1970’s. Richard served in the Campus Ministry at University of Texas at El Paso, Louisiana Tech and at the International Headquarters in San Bernardino, California.
Following their ministry in Campus Crusade Richard was the owner and manager of a bicycle shop in Riverside California for 19 years. After retraining in the computer field at California Baptist University, Richard worked as a Information Systems contractor and employee at Boeing for 17 years. Richard has written over 150 published articles in Information Systems and Computing publications including Windows Magazine and Windows Scripting Solutions. Richard has served in a leadership role as a Deacon and Elder in several churches as well as being a meditation presenter and Men’s Ministry coordinator.
Richard has written hundreds of meditations and devotionals that have been used in church and small group meetings. Many of these have been published in The Upper Room and Racers For Christ publications and on their web sites.
In 2021 Richard published a collection of his devotionals. These are available in a Kindle and paperback format on Amazon (ISBN 979-8705738878) “Life Stories to Uplift and Encourage”.
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Trevor Montgomery, 50, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source (RCNS) and Shasta County News Source (SCNS).
Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County-based newspapers Valley News, Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; the Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County; and Mountain Echo in Shasta County. He is also a regular contributor to Thin Blue Line TV and Law Enforcement News Network and has had his stories featured on news stations throughout the Southern California and North State regions.
Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.
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