Not a morbid entry, really!

One of the album's most poignant songs is "Homesick," one of eight songs on the album written by [Bart] Millard, who penned "I Can Only Imagine" after his father died of cancer in 1991. "'I Can Only Imagine' took the focus off of what you are going through and was comforting because it put the focus on where they were going," he says. "Homesick is the opposite because it completely addresses us that are left here. I don't think as a Christian that it's right for me to say, 'I wish you could've stayed here,' because truthfully, we're getting the raw end of the deal if we really believe what we say that heaven is as great as we want it to be. The whole idea is that we're the ones who have to wait."

-- From Christianity Today

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I can only imagine
What it will be like
When I walk by Your side
I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When Your face is before me

I can only imagine

Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for You Jesus, or in awe of You be still
Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine

I can only imagine
When that day comes
And I find myself standing in the Son
I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever, forever worship You

I can only imagine

-- "I Can Only Imagine" by MercyMe

***

You're in a better place, I've heard a thousand times
And at least a thousand times I've rejoiced for you
But the reason why I'm broken, the reason why I cry
Is how long must I wait to be with you

I close my eyes and I see your face
If home's where my heart is then I'm out of place
Lord, won't You give me strength to make it through somehow
I've never been more homesick than now

Help me, Lord, 'cause I don't understand Your ways
The reason why -- I wonder if I'll ever know
But, even if You showed me, the hurt would be the same
'Cause I'm still here so far away from home

In Christ, there are no goodbyes
And in Christ, there is no end
So I'll hold onto Jesus with all that I have
To see you again

-- "Homesick" by MercyMe

***

Keeping promises to the dead, or to anyone else, is very well. But I begin to see that 'respect for the wishes of the dead' is a trap. Yesterday I stopped myself only in time from saying about some trifle 'H. wouldn't have liked that.' This is unfair to the others. I should soon be using 'what H. would have liked' as an instrument of... tyranny; with her supposed likings becoming a thinner disguise for my own.

-- A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis

***

Just some things that I've been pondering over; no, not because of anything particular that has happened. After all, these things happen, and one is allowed to dwell on thoughts about life and death. And yet these are issues that plague only the living (as does this world); perhaps it is only responsible to make preparations for them while we can.

People do this in many ways, but mine is going to be short and sweet: if in the event that I become somewhat incapacitated, either by death or in some other absurd manner, let my sister decide what to do with my possessions, online and off. It doesn't matter if what she does with it is not what I would have done, because sometimes what I would have done is not what is best for those who love me. It doesn't matter if she screws up -- I do it all the time -- I doubt that I'll be watching from heaven, waiting to zap down balls of fires when she does. Just let her decide what to burn and what to keep, what to show and what to hide, what to give and what to hold back.

Give her a hug, wipe away her tears; love one another; these are the things that matter.