Absent from My Own Funeral

 

Permit me to be morbid

Just another time,

I need to share something

That is stamped on my mind.

I’ve been attending funerals

More than a few,

These were mostly persons

That I really knew.

In a few cases

Some were relatives of friends

But there were so many

I thought they wouldn’t end.

I have had a break

For the last three weeks

But concerning so many funerals

I trust there’s no repeat.

Sometimes three in one day

I just had to be there

To pay my respect,

I want to make that clear.

One day if Jesus should tarry

You will attend mine

But I will not be in attendance

Not at that time.

I have the Bible’s backing

It is found in God’s Word:

To be absent from the body

And to be present with the Lord.

And while I do not understand

All that this means,

When you come to my funeral

Do not expect me at the scene.

I would have long vacated

My temporary tent

That facilitated the time

That on this earth I spent.

  

This bivouac you see

And in which I now reside

One day will be buried

But not with me inside.

The real Stewart Russell

Would have been whisked away

To await his resurrection

On a divinely appointed day.

So if I go before you do

And that is very possible,

Remember that I told you

I will not be at my funeral.

If you believe God’s Word

You’d appreciate my stance,

Mine is a biblical reality

I am not in a trance.

Turn with me now

To 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 8

To be absent from the body

And to be present with the Lord.

The apostle Paul was confident

And so am I,

The born again believer

Will live again though he dies.

I will not be in attendance

I hope you can now see,

The real me would have left,

They will inter my body.

Stewart Russell © November 2018