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( I don't have much time, but I wanted to ask you all to please not appologise for my father's death. I do apprecaite it a lot, but everything is OK now biggrin )
The Death of a Loved One.

This one is for all of you. I don’t know how many of you have faced the death of a loved one, but I hope this will help you anyway. This is a very serious subject for me, so I won’t be adding much humor or maybe even any humor. May God bless all of you, and bring the utmost happiness into your life.

I was going to write this sermon right after I wrote the last one, but I forgot about it until Gini showed me this 50 pg paper on losing your parents. I don’t know too many verses on death in the Bible, but I will do what I can do.

Throughout the Bible, it talks about how much suffering people can endure whenever somebody goes back to the Lord. Job tore his robe and shaved his head he was so upset when he heard his family had been killed (and all the other plague’s the devil did to him). When Lazarus died from sickness, Jesus cried for His friend for several hours (John 11:35-36). Throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, people are broken up over the death of loved ones. If I were to bring out all the verses on Death (even though I can’t because I haven’t read all of the Bible yet) I’d be writing all night.

Luke 23:47

“Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, "Certainly this man was innocent!"”

Luke 23:48

“When all the people who had gathered there to watch what happened, they returned home, beating their chests because they were so sad.”

Death is no laughing, happy matter. Grief, sadness, anger, hatred, fear, etc, can all happen as a result of somebody’s death, especially if many others loved this person. Before Jesus was to be killed, Peter cut off the ear of a man to try to prevent Jesus’ capture (And his death) When Jesus died, all of his apostles, all his friends, all his followers, and even the Romans who had killed him were all beating their chests with sadness. Can you imagine that? The one who saved BILLIONS from their sins, their troubles, their grief, etc. died a horrific death, FOR THEM, right in front of their eyes. The sadness and pain must have been 100%. That’s even an understatement I’m sure.

I’m afraid I’ll have to tell you another story about my life. It covers all those feelings at once. I’ve told you all about this in my testimony and in other sermons. When I was five years old, my father died of lung cancer. My family consists of six children (I’m the youngest), and my mother was a housewife. When my father died, we didn’t take it so lightly. My mom had to take on all the responsibility of raising the family. We lost almost everything, and life wasn’t easy afterward.

I remember the day he died so clearly. Just a warning, this part might cause a tear or two (even on my part). My dad hadn’t been sick for more than a week, and one day he could hardly breath. My brothers and sisters were at school, so I was the only child who got to see him before he died that day. My mom and I took him to the hospital, and the doctors had to put him on a respirator right away. My dad didn’t say much to me, but the last thing he said to me was, “Hey, James” and he was carted away. My mom decided that I should go to a friend’s house. So, my mom drove me away. The entire drive to my friend's, I asked my mom, “Mommy, is daddy gonna die?” She always said no, but I kept asking. I could tell she was hiding how upset she was, and I didn’t really understand what was going on.

After I was dropped off, my mom returned to the hospital. I had fun with my friend, but I kept wondering what was going to happen to my dad. Was he fine or was he dying? I didn’t know. So, I made the best of things until my friend’s mom dropped me off at home.

My siblings and me were all waiting for hours in the family room of my old house for my mom to return from the hospital, wondering what the heck was going on. It felt like eternity that I was waiting by the window, fighting off frightened tears. I wondered if my mom or dad would return. Well, my mom returned with her friend, but not dad.

When my mom got home, she was crying like no other. She didn’t look upset, but instead she looked stolid and plain. Though she didn’t look upset, tears were streaming down her face. We all asked, “Where’s dad?” and she didn’t answer until we returned to the family room. That’s when she told us the news. My dad wasn’t coming home. Not ever again.

The feeling you get when you’re told somebody you love died cannot be described. As soon as the word “died” escaped my mom’s lips, we all were sobbing. We went off to our rooms and we cried and cried. After the tears were gone, we had nothing to say to each other. We looked as stolid as my mom had when she arrived. I remember sitting by the window and just staring at the sky. I imagined my dad up in the cloud with angel wings and a halo over his head. He was looking down at me and he was grinning. Man, I was back in tears again after that.

The days after that were empty. Dad was missing out of the picture, and we couldn’t take it very well. We were Mormons at the time, and we didn’t go to church after that. A question arose: Why did God do this to us? Man, did the angry grow and grow until it was explosive towards God. Me, my mom, my two sisters, and my three brothers were so angry that we cursed God from then one for the longest time. It seemed so unfair that the father of such a big family filled with such young children now had to die. We hated God from then on for the longest time, every one of us.

As the years went by, I grew into a momma’s boy (mothers rule, my mom is no different. Say otherwise and I might sock you in the face ninja ). Until I was about 8, I feared that my mom would die as well. I didn’t leave her side. The death of my dad was finally healing in all of us, but a new wound opened. Was momma gonna die? That fear was eating us up inside and we would go into a state of sadness if she were gone for too long. I know that I would. I wouldn’t go to friend’s houses. I was afraid my mom would die while I was there. Life was filled with fear and sadness at that point.

As more years went by, I grew past that fear, as everyone else did. Things were better, but not much. Everyone was Godless and didn’t have good morals (even me, I hate to admit). A lot of my family (not all of us) got into the whole drug and alcohol scene. I didn’t, thank Jesus, but I was around that a lot for years. I knew it was because of my father’s passing.

More years went by and things got better. We’ve all grown use to it and we no longer are brought down by my father’s death. But we still get sad, sometimes. I sometimes think about it and I feel sad. It’s numb and diluted now, but it’s still sad. The truth is we didn’t become fine with our father’s death. We didn’t fully heal. But we learned to accept it and to become happy again. We’ve grown quite attached to each other, and we no longer are in such despair. We are all very happy. I’m SO happy now that I’ve come back to Christ, as is my darling sister Katherine and my big brother, Ben.

Woah! I nearly teared up there.

It all seems so sad, huh? You’re right, it’s extremely sad. It’s not a weakness nor is it bad to be sad (Unless of course you think life is all about or mostly about sadness. If that’s the case then I will pray you come to realize life is great), especially when your loved one died. It's not a weakness to care about people. By all means, let your sadness out. But you know what? Death is a natural thing. Without it, how could we see the Kingdom of heaven? How could we meet our maker?

It’s true when people say death is only the beginning. Don’t lose hope! Fear not! Death isn’t the end! There is no end through Christ.

Quoted text is once again written by Gini



Jesus promises that through Him, there is no true death. Your body may die physically, but you will not die. You will live and you will live forever. The loved one that you thought died isn’t really dead at all. He/she lives on forever! Wait! It gets better.



You know where you go when you die? You go to paradise. You go to a place without suffering, without hatred or doubt. You go to a place filled with God’s AWESOME love and grace. The physically dead loved one is living it up right, drinking holy beverages and all that jazz in the glorious light of Heaven. The one that you thought was dead is SO happy to be with Christ again. When I think like that, I don’t think unhappy, sad things. I think, “Man, my Dad is lucky. The lucky duck.” I take comfort in the knowledge that my dad is taken care of in Heaven. I take comfort knowing that I will see my dad again.

Now, I know what some of you must be thinking. What about those I love who don’t believe in Christ? I know that feeling all too well. My mom and half my sibling don’t believe in God/Jesus. I have something to add about my Dad dying. As I mentioned above, we were Mormons. My dad was Mormon before he died. I have a strong belief that Mormonism doesn’t bring salvation thanks to the fact that they don’t believe Jesus is God (and a few other hateful reasons, but I won’t get into them). My mom told me years later that my dad had died 4 times that day. When he died the first time, the doctors revived him. The second time he died, he revived out of the blue. Same thing with the other two times. My sister and I were talking about it not that long ago and something amazing happened. We were outside around 4 A.M discussing Christianity with my sister’s friend and out of nowhere (the night was very calm) there was this strong gust of wind. My sister had this feeling. She told me that dad was in heaven, and she now knew it. She told me that God had been working with my dad to get him on the right path those four times. The fourth time he had stepped onto the path. I didn’t know what to say. It made me think. God had came to my dad and set him straight. God gave my dad a second chance just before he died for good. I thought it over and I thought it over and I came to this conclusion. God will come to those who don’t believe and try and set them straight before they die. If they decide not to step onto the path, well, I won’t say what happens, but I know God doesn’t just go, “Ha, you’re dying you stupid unbeliever you. I’m not gonna lift a finger to help you. You’re screwed”

You will see your loved one again. You will be able to talk to him/her again. I laugh happily knowing that. You know what I’m gonna say to my dad when I see him again in Heaven? I’m gonna say, “Hey, Dad. How have you been?” then I’m gonna give him the biggest, most loved-filled hug to make for all the years on this Earth I couldn’t do that (then he’ll probably pick me up and put me against the wall and say, “I don’t want to put you on the wall! I wanna hug you and kiss you, but I don’t want to put you on the wall.” Haha, childhood memories). Then I’ll probably tackle glomp him at least 500 hundred times. I’m gonna give him a massive kiss on the cheek, then I’m gonna praise God and Jesus for giving me back my earthly father. I’m gonna thank them and I’m gonna give them every ounce of love in my soul!

I was tearing up earlier, but now I’m ultra mega happy. I can't help but feel the love of God right now, which is the best feeling I've ever had! I hope that I helped you and I hope you all will pursue Christ to your fullest extent. I love you all. Jesus loves you eternally more.

~James Gronseth the Nerdy.

Father,
I ask you first to forgive all of us for our sins so that there is no block inbetween you and us.I thank you for giving our loved ones hope. I thank you for giving us eternal life and for watching over our dead loved ones. I thank you for taking care of my dad, and for giving me the chance to see him again. You so totally are the shizz. I love you, as all of us do, with all my heart, mind and soul. I will fight for you till the bitter end, which won’t even be an end at all. In Jesus’ almighty name, amen. heart heart heart

P.S This might be my last sermon for a while. School is starting soon. I will write a sermon whenever I can. I love doing this, and I hope God has done good for you guys through me.

God Bless you James. I'm teary now, too. I'm glad that you posted this. Especially in America, death as a whole is avoided. People aren't willing to delve so deeply into somehthing that causes such depression and grief. What not enough people realize is, you must work throught those thoughts and feelings if you're ever going to get better.

I do wonder about myself, though.. I've always been detatched from death. When my grandparents died, we were sort of prepared, and i miss things about them, but I wasn't incredibly upset. I thought, 'that sucks. How's mom doing?' and I cried a little for her sake, but wondered why I wasn't very sad.

When my karate teacher died, I thought 'aw, damn' and took a deep breath. When my whole school was devistated (many years ago) by a a gunman who wounded a few teachers and killed the janitor, I shrugged again. 'Everyone dies', I thought.

Maybe it's that those deaths never impacted me personally...? Or is it that I avoid death too? I wonder. confused

Just a word Lis, I don't think you're detached from death or that you avoid it, I think that you have a very practical mind and heart and that you are secure enough and strong enough to not hide in unnecessary emotionalism. One of the reasons I have always been so very emotional is because of all the hurt I've been through. I think it's a sign of you being very level-headed and well-rounded, and maybe I'm wrong, and if this doesn't seem right to you, that's fine, because I could be way off, but that's my opinion. I think you're awesome!! And you've helped me a lot because of your clear vision. I love you!!! You totally rock!!