He had a quiet morning with Anna Mae and in the early afternoon about 30 of us family members went over to Oma and Opa's to have church. At this point, the only responses he was giving us were raises of eyebrows and a few groans every now and then, but believe me, they were intentional. We were with him for over 2 hours and it was the most beautiful "church" you've ever seen. Brandon & Daniel, two of his grandsons, delivered a message from scripture and talked about the legacy he and Oma are passing on and how he was truly the greatest example anyone could ask for. We recited Psalm 23 together and prayed the Lord's Prayer over Papa. Debbi led us in singing songs that we know would make Papa's heart happy. He really responded to, "When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory." Johnny de Graaf, his great grandson recited Psalm 100:
"Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations."
his faithfulness continues through all generations."
How beautiful is it that his last church service was led by the next 3 generations of his family! It is exactly what he would have wanted. We spent alot of the time singing because that was Papa's favorite thing to do. We sang hymns, praise songs, and even by 2-year-old Gerrit's request, "Home on the Range." We got a chance to pray together to the God of all comfort and to spend Opa's last church service together... with his "Annie" right beside him.
All week, Papa had been asking when his "singing angels" were coming. Growing up and even still, the granddaughters have often woken Papa up from naps singing and he just loved it and of course would always join right in. Those girls are his "singing angels." Four of the five were able to be there and after church, stood around his bed and kept on singing. We went through the hymnal for about an hour and we got many eyebrow raises with this song of hope:
"Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King
Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King
Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, we're going to see the King.
No more dying there, we are going to see the King
No more dying there, we are going to see the King
No more dying there, we are going to see the King
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, we're going to see the King
*His favorite verse*
No more cancer there, we are going to see the King
No more cancer there, we are going to see the King
No more cancer there, we are going to see the King
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, we're going see the King"
After exhausting our old hymn options, Cary Ann said, "I found the perfect song" and we broke into "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and this started a round of patriotic songs and laughter, also "So very Papa."
I don't know about you, but that's the way I'd like my last day to be - with 30 of my favorite people singing about joining the voices of a million angels, talking to Jesus and reading scripture together. What a beautiful day the Lord has made to be Opa's last day in this mortal flesh.
(Stay tuned for the "homecoming")
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