{The following article was written by my Aunt Diane, as a tribute to my grandfather, Vince Beyer, who met Jesus on October 1, 2015.}
"How do you like your steak? I like mine medium rare. I like my waffles a bit under-cooked. I like my toast only slightly toasted, and I like my bacon limp, not crispy. But there will be one time in my life where I hope to hear the words, “Well Done,” and that is when I meet Jesus face to face. I don’t want Him to say, “Your life was under-cooked. Your faith was limp. The power of the Holy Spirit in you was lukewarm.”
I write this the day after my Dad left this earth for Heaven. It has been almost thirty hours since he entered through the gates of Paradise. To know my Dad, was to catch a glimpse of Jesus on this earth. I do not overstate that. You can ask anyone who knew him. Dad was a godly man, who loved his Lord. He was not perfect. But the Fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control were words that could be used to describe him. He did not have the easiest of lives, although he had a very blessed one in many ways. He married his high school sweetheart, and she was at the foot of his bed as he took his last breath. He had six children. I was number two out of four boys and two girls. He has too many grandchildren and great-grandchildren for me to count at this moment. He had many friends, a good career, traveled extensively, enjoyed playing the piano since he was a young boy, and played it up until a week before he left for Heaven at the age of 80. He also had his share of struggles. Starting as a young boy of seven his fourteen year old sister went to Heaven, and then at the age of eleven, his Dad died, too, leaving his mom alone to raise him. My Dad battled Parkinson’s and other health issues the last 20 years of his life. He had stories to tell, and sometimes we were privileged to hear them. But mostly Dad was a quiet man. So when he did speak, those in the room listened. We wanted to hear what he had to say. At our last family reunion, Dad conducted our own church service on Sunday morning. He talked to us about 1 Corinthians 13, and what love is. At that time, he presented me with his mom’s Bible, a gift which I cherish. He was a man who lived what he believed, and we all loved and respected him.
Dad didn’t mind burnt toast. He would say it was just dark brown. That was a family joke about him. I don’t know how he liked his bacon, or his steak, but I do know that hearing, “Well done, my good and faithful servant,” was his goal in life. He knew it wouldn’t be because he did all things right, it would be because he believed in Jesus Christ—the One who makes all things right through His shed blood on the Cross, and resurrection.
Searching And Noticing the Divine is easy for me today. All I have to do is think about where my Dad is right now—a glorious, wonderful place filled with the very Love he taught us about. Dad is in a place where all the promises Jesus left us with, really do come true. As we sat at Dad’s bedside after he was gone, my brother said, “We are still here among the dying. Dad is now among the living! He has been swallowed up by everlasting life!”
We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.
2 Corinthians 5:2-4 (NLT)"
2 Corinthians 5:2-4 (NLT)"
