A Christmas Funeral

A Christmas funeral
Yes, a funeral. A few days before leaving for Wisconsin, we found out that my Grandpa Eby had suddenly died. At 83 years of age, with Parkinson, God took His servant home. Praise the Lord, my grandpa was a believer and follower of Jesus Christ. The morning after returning from Wisconsin, we took off for southern Michigan for the funeral. We had smooth sailing and clear roads all the way across Illinois until we reached Indiana. About 30 miles into Indiana, our car slipped on a patch of slush while changing lanes and that was all it took. We ended up smashing into the guardrail on the side of the freeway. We praise God for His protection during that time. We were the only car involved, we were both perfectly fine, the only thing was that our car was damaged enough to not be able to drive it. We got towed to a towing station, played cards together for a couple hours, were picked up by Linnea and Tom (my sister and brother-in-law) who graciously drove about 3 hours out to get us, and finally made it to Michigan! Whew! Then God provided our way back through a rental car at a very good price. Isn't God so good! =D Plus, the rental car was a 2009 model, the nicest car that either one of us had ever driven! Not only that, but only a week after returning to Dubuque, God provided a good car for us. It is in good condition, only 140,000 miles on it, well taken care of, with recently put on snow tires, for a grant total of $1,100. I love watching God provide for us!
My grandpa's funeral went very well and I was so encouraged by the message that was given by my grandpa's brother-in-law, Uncle Billy. It was a very appropriate message full of God's truth and a clear message of salvation through Jesus and an urge to know Him as my grandpa had. I was praying throughout the ceremony for my cousins who were sitting around me; all but one of whom are not believers. I was also praying for my grandma who has not shared the faith of my grandpa. We stuck around for another day after the funeral and had some good time with family and relatives (this time on my side of the family). My dad had flown in from Japan so we got to spend some good time with him as well. All in all, we both thought that it was all worth going to Michigan, even with the accident. =D