Jacob's Funeral

Thought I would share the experience we had at little Jacob’s funeral.  The planning for such an event is somewhat chaotic, due to poor communications, no money and an urgency to get the job done since there is no embalming or other preservation of the body.  I got a call about 8 o’clock at night that the funeral was scheduled to be the next morning about 9 am.  Lisa and I had both decided that we should both be there as well as Jared and Kris.  We left the little ones at friends since we also were transporting 7 of the caregivers.  We arrived at the village and walked to the hut where the body was being kept and the ladies immediately broke into singing hymns.  There’s just something about African singing when done right that is very beautiful even though I can only catch a few of the words.  We were given chairs to sit on (guest of honor treatment) and waited for a while.  Lisa went into the hut with the other ladies, who were still singing and I stayed outside with the few men that were there.  In the hut was the casket surrounded by the female family members, our nannies and other village women. The young man who was helping organize things and spoke good English told me we were waiting for the transport (pickup) to carry the coffin to the graveyard and the preacher to get started.  So we waited some more (more beautiful hymns) and after a while he came back and asked if I would mind doing the speaking, since we hadn’t seen the preacher yet and he was “begged” to come.  I said sure and got my little pocket bible (courtesy of the Hainline family) out and tried to search for a few verses.  After a bit, the preacher showed up, but offered to be my interpreter.  Turns out he is a Nazarene minister and the nephew of one of our caregivers, who is also from the same village.  So I offered a few verses explaining Jesus love for little children (Matthew 19:14), God’s sovereignty over all (Romans 8:28) and the glory of being present with the Lord when absent from the body (2 Corinthians 5).  I wanted to make the point that being dead and with the Lord really is better than being alive, even though we can’t seem to understand it when it comes.  I then gave a short gospel presentation, asking if each one of them knew where they were going when they died.  I offered my own conversion at a funeral as an example of the good that can come from death. 

 

We then tried to fit 15 people into the Landcruiser to go to the graveyard which was about 2 miles away.  Most of the funeral party walked while we drove at the same speed.  At the gravesite, I offered another short message about the body fading as the grass, but the word of the Lord enduring forever and our hope of eternal life through Jesus.  After the casket is covered, beautiful homemade wreaths were placed on the grave by those of importance in the life of the baby- close relatives, village headman, and Lisa and I.  All in all it was a good experience and we were both glad we attended.  I hope that God sees fit to bring the knowledge of the Savior to those who are lost that may have heard.

 

 

Andy