My Grandpa

February 16, 2025
 
Reflections from the Heart of Allan Redenius
As I write this reflection, it is February 1, 2025.  It is the 62nd anniversary of the death of my grandfather, on February 1, 1963.  For me it is a day that will live in infamy, never to be forgotten.
   
He was a man tall in stature, wise in the world, and one who had, to me at least, no faults.  Although, I do remember him going to the pool hall to play cards with his friends😊 But, this was his most important quality.  He loved Jesus.  He is living proof that a testimony about Jesus given during life, lives beyond death.
 
I give him credit for speaking the blessing of ministry into my life.  At about 11 years of age, he said to me, “If you become a pastor, I will buy you a gold watch.”  Over 60 years later, I remember well the words he spoke into my life so long ago.  Obviously, his words spoke louder into my life than any gold watch ever could.
 
On the morning of his death, while in school, I heard the church bell toll.  Instantly, I knew that the sound of the toll was to honor him.  I still could recite to you every detail of the day of his funeral, from sobbing through the old hymn How Great Thou Art (whenever I sing that song even today, a tear comes to my eye),  to the teardrop that fell on his lapel from my eye as I said my final goodbye, to wondering why we were leaving him all alone in the cold at the cemetery, while we drove away.
 
There are men and women in your life that leave a lasting impression upon those whom they touch.  My grandfather was such a man.  Probably, a bigger man today in my memory, than the day he died.
 
Because he loved the Lord, I love the Lord.  My prayer today is that I could be such a man for my grandsons…for you.
 
As the end of my life draws near, one of the many joys of entering heaven will be the homecoming, the family reunion I celebrate with Jesus and that great cloud of witnesses of family and friends that have gone before me.
 
If you come there after me, you will find my grandpa, and the rest of my family and friends, bowing at the feet of Jesus.  It is there you will find me too.
 
Love in Christ,
Pastor Allan
 
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