Pastor Ben’s Ponderings

“A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.”         (Ecclesiastes 7:1)

As I walked up to the table at the front of the church where the urn holding the ashes of my father, I saw the nameplate: Wesley A. Furman. It began to hit me. I couldn’t believe that the father I adored was no longer alive on this earth. But God began to impress the above scripture verse on my heart. And as I rolled the verse over in my mind, I began to realize all the things in my father’s death I could be thankful for.

I didn’t have to worry about where he was going to spend eternity. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt he was in heaven. He had been a wonderful Christian husband, father, and grandfather; a wonderful role model for me to emulate how to love my wife and be a great husband. When people gathered for his funeral service, there was no need to worry about the way he lived his life. He had lived his life being a good man with a good name. He had given his life and his talents to the Lord and had served the Lord with all of it.

I really understood at that moment, that he came into this world with nothing, but he left this world, leaving for us a wonderful, Christian heritage — an example of service to the Lord and his precious good name. What more could I ask for in a father?
The day of his death was better than the day of his birth! I’m so thankful for that.