Chapter
13

One thing my parents always talked to me about was having a closed casket for their funerals. They didn’t want people gawking over some shell of a body where they used to live. Years later at my mom’s funeral in 2010, she had a closed casket. At the funeral, an old classmate of my mom from grade school asked me if we could open up the casket so that she could see my mom. She said she hadn’t seen her in probably 50 years. I politely said that my mom had always requested a closed casket. This woman then insisted that we open the casket, and that I must not have understood the necessity of her request to see my mom. I then told the woman, “My mom’s not in that casket. My mom is in Heaven. She’s got a new body. I’m sure she’d love to meet you there one day.”

 

Soon the family arrived at the church followed by friends. The church was quickly overcome with hundreds and hundreds of people coming in to pay their respects and love on us a bit. We had a receiving line that stretched out the doors of the church. The church staff helped to keep things organized. If they had not, then it would have been pure chaos. Eventually, the staff stopped the receiving line and asked everyone to take a seat. I believe the church sat about 500, and it was full on that day. People began to make their way to a seat. In the midst of all these people Alex bounced through the crowd. I remember some saying to me, “Is that…… Alex? I was told she had a skull fracture and was in the ICU?”

 

I said, “She does, and she was, but God has done a miracle in her life.” This is one of the reasons that I still tear up when He shows His power through Alex’s intelligence. When the girl with the skull fracture excelled at reading at such an early age, I cried. When the girl with the skull fracture received countless academic awards through her middle and high school years, I cried. When the girl with the skull fracture graduated high school a year early and was accepted into Pepperdine University, I cried. When the girl with the skull fracture graduated with a master’s degree from Georgetown University, I cried. When the girl with the skull fracture was working for the White House and invited us to go bowling at the White House, I cried. To God be the Glory.

 

Proverbs 3:5-6 New International Version

 

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
   and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
   and he will make your paths straight.