We buried my father last week

Last week my Dad passed away.  His home-going was a relief to his family, as he had suffered for so long.  He wanted some specific things at his funeral--he had it all planned out.  He wanted eulogies from five Baptist preachers, and a long-time friend who is a retired publisher and politician.  Needless to say, it was a long service!

One of the preachers reminded me of a term often used by my Dad to describe someone as uncouth, or an oaf.  He used to tell me, "Get your feet off of the couch, you clod!"  Apparently he used this term to describe many people, not just his immediate family--the preacher said my Dad had called him a clod, too, for some long-forgotten misdeed.  My brother-in-law also reminded me that Dad would sometimes call himself a clod, especially after he would belch.

The preacher used the term "clod" to show how close to the earth we all are.  Man was created from the clay, and Woman was created from flesh.  "All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return." (Ecclesiastes 3:20)

It is amazing how we were created.  It is even more amazing that God, the Spiritual Head, would send His Son to live among us clods, us "dust bunnies" to redeem us and make us like Himself.

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead.  The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.  If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.  So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.  The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.  The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.  As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.  And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15: 42-49)

A seed is a wonderful thing, full of potential.  But it is not capable of realizing that potential until it is covered with dirt and water.  So it is with us; we hold on to the shell, when the glory and honor belong to the imperishable spirit.

At my Dad's home-going celebration, when he lay at the altar of the church, there were no tears.  There was rejoicing and encouragement from everyone who spoke.  It was only at the grave-side, when the family bade him farewell, that we wept for him.  There was dirt and rain; there was flesh and tears.  But we know that he shed the dusty shell, and his spirit dwells with God the Father, the Spiritual Head.