He IS risen!

Yesterday "main braja"(my indigenous brother) passed away. Though I have been sitting with him and his family for over a month now, reading the Kriol Baibul with them, and praying for him, yesterday was another opportunity entirely.

As I was sitting with the family, my mind was racing, "WHERE can I find a verse that will comfort this family? LORD! PLEASE HELP ME!" As I sat there in the chair next to my brother's shell, with the family waiting for some encouraging word, my mind was racing. I've never been in this sort of situation before!

By God's grace, I remembered a chapter I had read in 1 Corinthians. Chapter 15 was the chapter I read with the family, in Kriol. 1 Corinthians 15 speaks of the fact of Jesus' resurrection and as a result of HIS resurrection, those who are His will also be resurrected. As we were reading through the chapter, (my brother's widow, her mother, their cousin and her husband) we read a section at a time.

Her cousin said, "Please explain it to us. What does it mean?" So, for each part of the Scripture, I stopped, and we talked about what it meant. Praise God that Jesus Christ IS risen! We talked about the different kinds of seeds bearing different fruit. And how the body we have now must die in order to have the new one(unless we're alive when Christ comes back and we're changed in the blink of an eye). We talked about the 2 Adams(Adam, and Jesus), and how Jesus gives us life. Then we talked about how Christ defeated death. We talked about the final day, how all the dead in Christ will rise up to be with him in heaven. We continued to read about the new bodies we will receive on that day. That our current bodies aren't meant to last forever, but there is the new body which God will give us on that day. We talked about the new bodies for a bit, perfect heavenly bodies. As I read the verses, the people would "hum" their agreement. It was like as they listened, it was encouraging their hearts. I pray it truly did.

We read through the entire chapter, and talked about it. Everyone there was listening intently. Please pray with me that God's Word would take root in their hearts, and that they would read that Scripture again and again (as they said they would!). Please pray that I may continue to be a blessing to their family, and for wisdom in how best to comfort them in the days following my brother's death. Thank you!

* You may have noticed I didn't use my indigenous brother's name at all. That is because in indigenous society, when someone passes away, out of respect for their family the name isn't used. The only thing used is the relationship term for that person.