I remember this cemetery I used to drive by years ago in the area where I used to live. I noticed that there was this ornate marble chair like a throne in the midst of the gravesites. And I thought about Christ coming to raise his believers, living and dead. Many have a dread of the grave, but this warmed my heart knowing that we will soon meet the Lord and be with him for eternity. Phil :bible Phil, I have long been fascinated with humanities fascination with graveyards. We spend grotesque amounts of money on the unnecessary frivolities of the ceremony of burial. I am one of those strange individuals that enjoys walking through a graveyard to read the head stones. The older the graveyard the better. What is a really cool thought for me is to see the dead in Christ rise and then up I go too :yahoo: Oh, goodness Tammie! We are definitely kindred spirits in that regard! In the village of Stone Mountain Georgia is a veeeeery old grave yard that I have walked though numerous times. Just fascinating to read the headstones. Here at the University of Georgia we have an old grave yard that I’ve been though numerous times as well. Yea Tammie, there is too much spent on funerals and graves. But I think it is somehow meant to help make the bereaved feel better. Every time I pass by a cemetery I think, and often say aloud, one day that is going to be the site of a great miracle. And…. I smile. Totally would love to see it — we have some old ones in the Williamsburg area and in Appomattox that are just fabulous with the well grass and time stained coverings. Some very thin and small and you can barely make out the dates. A funny story, there was one time that we had a teen group in the Appomattox area from our youth camp and we visited the graveyard. There was a broken crypt and boy did we cause a few of the kids to jump out of their skin :mdrmdr: :mdrmdr: — ok so you would have been there, but it was a memory I love. The names make me think of the person, what where they like, did they know Jesus, how did they die, who did they leave behind, will I get to meet them in heaven? Ok so I am truly a geek! :mdrmdr: But a Jesus loving geek — looking for my Savior any day :yahoo: What you say is a point — I respect the ability individuals have to grieve in that way, not often how it use to be … there have always been ceremonies to commemorate someone dying. It is just vastly different and as typical of “modern man” taken to the extreme, not always in the right way. I have seen death in every age and attended many funerals, it is painful and heavy hearted always. The loss shakes you to your soul and the heart pain is so real. I completely understand and cherish the verse in Rev 21:4 “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Soon we will see the one who saved us by His Grace…. :prayer-hands: So true Joan — that will be so very cool!!! :yahoo: My husband's family is all from the same area, so every Memorial Day we travel to at least 3 cemeteries to put flowers on graves. My sister in law goes online and gets a list of people looking for headstones of relatives buried there and we spend time looking for the missing relatives and taking photos to post. One time when we visited, a worker there asked us if we noticed that the people were all buried with their heads facing east. He said that is because Jesus will come from the east. I thought he had a great line to use to talk to people about Jesus. Blue, that is really an interesting thought about buried looking to the eastern sky …. A great conversation starter indeed. My family is kind of scattered around but it is cool that yours can meet in the cemetery. I prefer the older ones, my dad was buried in a veterans memorial garden, which not very interesting as there are no headstones, just plates in the ground to mark the spot. The plates have very little information on them.
