Live Ready

Death Does Not Have the Final Word

“Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
— Luke 12:40

There are moments in life when God allows us to look backward and see something we could never have understood while we were walking through it.

More than two decades ago, our daughter Hattie was having what we have often called her own “personal rapture.” At only ten months old, she went home to be with Jesus.

At the time, we could not possibly understand what God would someday do through her little life. We simply had to look to Him for the comfort, strength, and courage to take the next step.

Eventually, out of that journey came Hattie’s House—a place created to serve families who have traveled away from home for medical treatment. For years, we have had the privilege of providing a home for families while they walk through some of the most difficult seasons of their lives.

Usually, the story has looked something like this: a family comes for treatment, stays at Hattie’s House, completes that season of treatment, becomes well enough to leave, and eventually goes home.

But this time is different.

This time, our friend Pastor Gary Galbraith has come home to Hattie’s House so that he can prepare to go Home.

Gary spent 22 years faithfully pastoring a church in Menifee before God eventually led him to Nias, Indonesia, one of the poorest regions of the country. There he has spent years preaching the Gospel, teaching the Word of God, loving people, and serving alongside his beautiful wife, Susan.

Several months ago, cancer brought Gary and Susan back to the United States for treatment.

In January, through circumstances that only God could have arranged, an apartment at Hattie’s House suddenly became available. Gary and Susan moved in with only a few suitcases, believing that after treatment and recovery they would eventually return to Indonesia.

And for a while, that appeared to be exactly what was happening.

Gary grew stronger. He taught a men’s Bible study on the life of David. He led prayer at our church. He was preparing for a four-week visit back to Indonesia.

And then everything changed.

The cancer returned aggressively.

After conversations with his doctors, with Susan, and ultimately with the Lord, Gary made the decision to leave the hospital and return to Hattie’s House under hospice care.

Last week, we found ourselves moving furniture out of that little apartment in Carmel Valley to make room for a hospice bed.

We had never done this at Hattie’s House before.

But Gary and Susan are family.

And this is what you do for family.

As we have sat with Gary, there is something extraordinary about watching a man who knows that his remaining days on this earth may be few—and yet can still raise his hands and praise God.

Why?

Because Gary knows something that changes everything.

Death does not have the final word.

Jesus does.

Jesus stood outside the tomb of His friend Lazarus and said:

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.”
— John 11:25

That is not simply a comforting thought.

It is the promise of Jesus Christ.

Through His crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, Jesus defeated the power of sin and death. And through faith in Him and the indwelling presence of His Spirit, we have the assurance of eternal life.

Paul writes:

“Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”
— 1 Corinthians 15:54–55

Death still brings tears.

Death still creates an empty chair.

Death still causes us to miss someone terribly.

But for the follower of Jesus, death does not leave us wondering where that person has gone.

When Gary leaves this earth, Gary will not be missing.

We will know exactly where he is.

Gary will be with Jesus.

And because of Jesus, we know we will see him again.

Paul expressed this assurance beautifully:

“To be absent from the body” is “to be present with the Lord.”
— 2 Corinthians 5:8

That is why Gary can raise his hands.

That is why he can praise God.

That is why he can thank God even as his earthly body grows weaker.

His hope was never ultimately in his body getting stronger.

His hope is in Jesus.

And somehow, as we watch all of this unfold, our thoughts keep returning to Hattie.

More than two decades ago, we could never have imagined that the King of Kings would someday take one of the most painful chapters of our lives and use it to create a home where families could find rest in the middle of medical treatment.

And we certainly could never have imagined that one day we would prepare that same home for a faithful servant of Jesus to spend his final days surrounded by his wife, his family, his friends, and people who love him.

But God knew.

He knew Hattie.

He knew Gary.

He knew us.

And He knew that someday their stories would intersect in this little place called Hattie’s House.

It reminds us again that we rarely understand everything God is doing while He is doing it.

We simply trust Him.

And Gary’s journey has made one question increasingly important in our own lives:

Are you ready?

Jesus said:

“Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
— Luke 12:40

Being ready isn’t about living afraid of dying.

It is about being fully alive in Christ today.

Ready to love.

Ready to forgive.

Ready to serve.

Ready to share Jesus.

Ready to obey when He calls.

Ready to trust Him when we don’t understand.

Ready to hold loosely to the things of this world because we know this world is not our final home.

And yes—ready for the day when each of us will stand before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Gary has spent much of his life telling people about Jesus.

Now, without preaching a sermon, his life may be proclaiming one of his most powerful messages:

Jesus is enough.

Enough in life.

Enough in suffering.

Enough in uncertainty.

And enough when we take our final breath.

Because the grave could not hold Jesus, it cannot have the final word over those who belong to Him.

So today, perhaps the question isn’t how many days we have remaining.

None of us knows that answer.

The better question is:

Am I living ready with the day God has given me?

Someday, every one of us will leave what we can see and enter what, for now, we can only know by faith.

And when that day comes, our prayer is that we will be able to do exactly what our friend Gary is doing today:

Raise our hands.

Praise our Savior.

Trust His promises.

And know that we are going Home.

“And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
— 1 Thessalonians 4:17–18

Until then, may we live ready.

With love and hope in Jesus,

Laurie & Andy

A Final Note

This devotion was written while Gary was still with us.

On August 29th at 12:57 p.m., surrounded by his beloved Susan, his daughters, and some of his amazing friends, Gary took his final breath here on earth.

And in that instant, everything Gary believed became sight.

Gary did not disappear. Gary did not cease to be. Gary is alive. He is with Jesus. He is completely healed.

The cancer is gone.

The suffering is over.

The race has been finished.

And as we think about Gary standing before the One he loved, preached about, served, and followed for so many years, we cannot help but think of the words of Jesus:

“Well done, good and faithful servant.”
— Matthew 25:21

Before Gary went Home, I asked him to do one thing for me.

I asked him to give Hattie a hug.

Someday, because of Jesus, we will see them both again.

Until then, Gary’s life leaves us with the same question Jesus has placed so deeply upon our hearts:

Are you ready?