I wasn’t going to bring this up tonight. Maybe people get sick of hearing the same old thing from me, but…. As I headed east I noticed the rising almost-full-moon, pale, peaking up over the trees close to the horizon. It was HUGE! or at least ‘appeared’ to be huge.

I knew that if I took my hands off the wheel and stuck my arm out toward the moon, thumb out next to it, the moon would shrink back to the normal high-in-the-sky moon size… nice, but not huge.  What I’m afraid some people may be tired of hearing about is the “moon illusion.”

What’s all too real is tomorrow’s funeral. Many of us will attend a funeral for the husband of a close friend. He loved the Lord, was a good husband, father and grandfather. He will be missed by those who knew and loved him.

I’ve been to more than a few funerals. There’s a pattern and a certain amount of predictability that comes with funerals of believers. Perhaps we will hear a story or two that will cause us to smile or lead us to tears, probably both. We’ll hear words of comfort that will be needed now and for the days to come. We’ll hear words from scripture that remind us that Jesus is “the resurrection and the life.” He conquered death and hell and that we belong to him ‘body and soul.’ Through all of it God will be worshiped.

I may sound like I’ve heard it all before, the same old thing. But, I’m here to tell you that what we will hear about and experience tomorrow is real. Real comfort, real truth about the way things are – in life … and in death. Unlike today’s moon, it’s not an illusion.

I really wasn’t going to write this tonight, but it’s a story worth telling and hearing over and over again. And in spite of the pain, sadness and tears of saying good-bye to one much loved, experiencing Jesus’ grace and love will be tomorrow’s gift.