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Some years ago, I went into high gear with end of life planning. By that time, all four of our parents had been promoted to heaven.
We had experienced up close and personal how much advance planning could help those left behind. We had also waded through some challenges caused by lapses in planning.
So now we have a book called New Life Planning. It has all the details of what pre-planning we have done and paid for. It has specific instructions, even down to our own obituaries.
We have shared the information with our potential survivors. We recommend others do the same.
Making these decisions is a highly personal one. We would never tell you or anyone else what you should do except consult God, The Creator of your body. Ask Him what is the best way to respect and honor His Work.
We began our considerations with one important Truth. We wanted those left behind to thank God for the bodies He had given us on earth, but we did not want anyone to try to cling to them when God had released us.
We wanted all focus to be on God and to be a celebration of the new eternal body we would have.
In what we came to call our New Life Planning, we discovered many time honored traditions do not really make much logical sense.
Much money is spent to enshrine memories instead of the money being used to fulfill Jesus’ ongoing work on earth.
Many traditions do not reflect what we know to be the wonderful truth of Jesus’ Victory over death.
As difficult as it is to relinquish a loved one’s physical presence, the reality is that stage of life has ended.
The body once occupied is now vacant. It is as the cocoon is to a butterfly. It served its time well, but its purpose has been fulfilled.
We should not try to hold on to what God has released. There is no need to pump the body full of short lived preservatives and dress it up for one final look.
Therefore, we do not want embalming or viewing of the body.
There is no need to store the body in any containers. We do not want to give any impression we still reside in one tiny spot when the reality is we have had a growth spurt! We will be larger than what would fit in any earth container.
Whether the body is allowed to decompose on its own or is cremated, the end result is the same. The body returns to the dust. The spirit returns to God.
Since we need no containers for the body, after donating any tissues or organs that can be used, we will have our bodies cremated.
We will have the cremains turned into cremation stones. Cremation stones are smooth stones made from cremains.
They can be shared with different people who can add them back into the natural environment of earth in different places of their choosing.
If desired, one or two stones may be kept as touchstones to have a physical connection with the body of which they were once a part.
Jesus broke bread and gave each of His Disciples a part. He said it represented His Body. In the same way, we would like to symbolically give parts of our bodies to those we love.
Most importantly, we would like the recipients to realize the importance of stones in The Bible.
When the stone was rolled away from Jesus’ tomb, it became the first announcement that death had been defeated. It became the first indication there was no need for body storage!
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find The Body of The Lord Jesus.
Luke 24:2-3
He is not here: for He is risen!
Matthew 28:6
In fact, The Bible is filled with references to stones.
Here are just a few.
This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become The Cornerstone.
Acts 4:11
You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:5
To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’
Revelation 2:17
So in summary,
We believe what we do with the body God created for us is important.
It is our goal to give Glory to God both in our life and in our death.
We think it would be great for our survivors to have a celebration of our new life with shared pictures of our old life.
And it will be wonderful if everyone can share how they saw The Lord revealed through our lives and commit to keep the Good News going!
If The Lord allows, we will be there too. But since we will be in our new resurrection bodies, you may not recognize us!
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
Philippians 1:20
