Today on the news, I listened to the account of a senseless, fatal shooting in California. The Dallas Morning News described more tragic loss of life locally. Death is our final, great enemy. Even Jesus wept for the deep heartbreak it brings.

Recently I read an account by Ruth Graham (Billy Graham’s wife—both now deceased) about how God touched one family during a terribly difficult time of loss.

Robert Armistead visited his elderly mother every day at a Nashville hospital, where she lay close to dying. During this time, his seventeen-year-old son Robin came down with a strange fever. Robert didn’t tell his mother about the illness in order to keep her from worrying about her dearly-loved, oldest grandson. Robin unexpectedly died after just a few days of sickness. While preparing for the funeral, Robert still didn’t tell his mother what had happened and worked hard to keep his bedside manner as natural as possible, thinking Robin’s passing would be too much for his mother in her fragile condition.

Returning to the hospital from the funeral, he found his mother in a coma. He sat by her, knowing it was the end. She came out of the coma, smiled at him, then became unconscious again.

While he watched her, her eyes opened a second time, with a “look of wonder.” And here’s the quote: “I see Jesus,” she exclaimed, adding, “why there’s Father and there’s Mother . . .” And then, “And there’s Robby! I didn’t know Robby had died . . .” Her hand patted her son’s knee gently. “Poor Bob [her name for Robert] . . .,” she said softly, and was gone.¹

The Scriptures tell us that death is swallowed up in Christ’s sacrificial victory. Jesus’ resurrection, the eyewitness accounts—verified by their willingness to suffer rather than deny their message—and his followers’ changed lives, then and now, provide all the evidence we really need, yet isn’t it encouraging in the face of so much darkness to hear about the times God gives an extra peek into the hereafter. I’m sure you too have heard accounts like this.

[1] Graham, Ruth Bell. Legacy of a Pack Rat. Nashville: Oliver-Nelson Books,1989.

Photo by John Towner on Unsplash.