My Grandpa

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 trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold…" (

"So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold…" (I Peter 1:6-7, NLT).

There were a lot of times that my grandpa didn't feel like doing anything or going anywhere.  He stayed at home while everbody else went out and had fun.  He was unselfish that way. He loved for everyone else to have a good time. There were so many times that he was sick on a daily basis and so many times that he was in the hospital over the years, and times before he died that we thought he wasn't going to make it. Each and every day that he was put through the fire of his illness of congestive heart failure, it never stopped him from praying and having faith or believing in God and believing that there was something better in our future. That it's possible for God to heal your sickness, but if He don't and you keep on living for Him, He will take care of you, if not on earth, then in heaven.  My grandpa's heart was purified gold.

I PeLT).

 

The photo below is of my grandpa walking from the back of a field they were burning off in the spring.  He accidentally got caught too far back in it and it was hard for him because of his congestive heart failure to walk through the smoke and the fire. It almost made him really sick that day but he made it through. I've always thought that photo shows a perfect example of the scripture above and how it realted to the way my grandpa was in his faith and how he lived his life.

firepa2blazingthefieldapril2003.jpg

 In the photo below my grandparents were picking corn out of the garden in a big 5 gallon washtub.  I was enjoying watching them and as always, trying to "capture the moment". My grandpa would always wave and I caught him in this pose that looked more like what he looked like when he was praising God and this is the way he looked even while he was suffering in his hospital bed before he died. I can imagine him now in heaven with this same look.

papickingcorn3.jpg

Weeping may endure for a night, but you know joy is coming in the morning.

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Previously, I had asked this question for people to "blog" me back and tell me their opinion, and after researching, I think I have found several references that answer my question as closely as it could be answered....
















Do you think our loved ones can look down on us from heaven and see what we're doing or hear us?  If so, do you think they communicate with us in some way?

















Answer:
Hebrews 12:1 states, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses..." Some understand the "cloud of witnesses" as being people looking down on us from heaven. That is not the correct interpretation. Hebrews chapter 11 records many people whom God commended for their faith. It is these people who are the "cloud of witnesses." They are "witnesses" not in that they are watching us, but rather in that they have set an example for us--they are witnesses for Christ, and God, and truth. Hebrews 12:1 continues, "...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

The Bible does not specifically say whether people can look down on us who are still on the earth. It is highly likely that they cannot. Why? One, they would sometimes witness us sinning. Two, they would sometimes see things that would cause them grief. Three, people in heaven are so occupied with worshipping God and enjoying the glories of heaven that they truly have no interest in what is happening here on earth. The very fact that they are free from sin, in heaven, and in God’s presence is enough for them to be happy. While it is possible that God allows people in heaven to look down upon their loved ones, the Bible gives us no reason to believe this actually occurs.

The above taken from the website:    gotquestions.org