A youthful Aidan ponders !My friend Aidan died just a year ago, he is warmly and fondly remembered and greatly missed by his family, friends and a wide circle who were touched by his generous life.
AT LAST...
Is it just a single year
Since your sudden leaving ?
Seems more like a lifetime ago,
When on that black Tuesday
You pulled down the blinds,
On your rich and tortured life…
Exited, stage left
Unable to bear the pain,
Stifled one last wounded scream
And stepped into the Silence…
Stumbling here on the rough-trod path
Free falling to Eternal purpose.
Trust you are still now
At peace, with answers,
Loved and at last understood
And you understanding all mysteries,
All paradox and irony resolved,
Contentment for you dear friend
As you see beyond the Veil.
Is it just a year today ?
Since we heard your golden voice
Such a rush of days
Since we felt your kindness,
Looked into your searching eyes
In vain to reassure you,
That in His love all is well,
And in His time all would be revealed.
You know it now, better than we
You have traded at the very last
Substance for the hope of faith
And found that golden city
Built and kept by God.
Gerard O'Shea
5 comments:
Leonardo de la Paor said...
For Aidan 1947 - 2008
Brother To Brother
We might disagree
Sometimes it's just you
Sometimes it's just me
We can't break the chain
So we must bare each other's pain
It's the livin', the dyin'
The life and the cryin'
That brings us together again
Again & Again
Brother to Brother
It's time that we all understand that we are
Brother to Brother
So why must we make it so hard?
There will always be more
To bring us together than to ever
Keep us apart
As long as we stand
Brother to Brother
There's a world breaking down
And God only knows how long it will go round
If love don't survive
There'll be nothing left here
To keep us alive
Don't take it for granted
The seed has been planted
To heal all the hurting inside
Brother to Brother
It's time that we all understand that we are
Brother to Brother
So why must we make it so hard?
There will always be more
To bring us together than to ever
Keep us apart
As long as we stand
Brother to Brother
The road's so long and life's so short
For us to lose our way
We've come this far
There is no other way
Brother to Brother
Brother to Brother
It's time that we all understand that we are
Brother to Brother
So why must we make it so hard?
Brother to Brother
It's time that we all understand that we are
Brother to Brother
So why must we make it so hard?
There will always be more
To bring us together than to ever
Keep us apart
As long as we stand
Brother to Brother
The Livin', The Dyin'
The Life and the Cryin'
Don't take it for granted
The seed has been planted
Brother to Brother
You are my brother
Brother to Brother
You will always be my brother
Brother to Brother
You are my brother
Philip
It's still hard to grasp that Aidan is gone, but how reassuring to know that the day of re-uniting is getting closer - and what a day that will be! The more people we know there, the more real heaven becomes. What a day that will be when sorrow and sighing flee away ... and there will be no more tears. <><
A lovely poem for a truly beautiful man who is greatly missed!
And There was a Garden
Bible Readings:
John 19:31-41 and then John 20:1-9
Text verse
John 19:41
Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden;
and in the garden a new sepulchre,
wherein was never man yet laid.
Please note the words:
There was a garden
George Bernard Shaw once said that dispite the fact that Medical Science Statistics prove that less people die today of this or that sickness or disease
- that this or that disease has been eradicated -
the final statistic will always remain constant.
The statistic that says that one out of one person will and must die!
Death is all around - Disease kills in spite of the advances of modern medicine.
Death comes to the palace and to the cottage.
Death comes to the good and the bad.
Death comes to the young and the old.
Death is always cruel and sudden.
And Death came to my family home 4 times in a 24 month period!
Not one of us can ever be certain that when we start a new day that we will finish that day.
The Bible reminds us that each and everyone of us will have an appointment with death.
It is the one appointment that each and everyone us must and will be compelled to keep!
Not one of us will be able to avoid our appointment with death.
Listen to the Word of God:
Hebrews 9:27
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement.
History, the local cemetery and our daily newspapers together are a silent witness
and a constant reminder that there is no antidote against the cruel reaper -death !
No-one will escape his cruel visit!
Death's angel will stand still at the door of each and every person.
While not one of us knows the time and date of his cruel visit - it is certain that he will come!
There is no-body today that can give or even receive any guarantee that death's angel
will not stop at their home or door even this very day.
Friends - Life is too short to allow the shortcomings, faults and the sins of yesterday to cast a shadow over the future.
Don't allow the hurts, jealously, regrets and grudges of things past to rob you
of the joy and peace and happiness that can be yours today !
At this time I want to remind you all of the fact that in Christ Jesus there is forgiveness of sin.
Listen to the word of God:
Isaiah 1:18
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
But listen again to our text verse:
John 19:41
Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.
A grave - a sepulchre - a tomb and yet also a garden.
In the garden a tomb - a grave!
Jesus is laid in a grave in a garden.
The grave is in the midst of flowers and plants and olive trees!
A grave and yet also a garden!
Surrounding the grave, a garden.
In this text there is a message for each and every one of us
- an important one for each and every one of us.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus was buried in a garden?
Something that many people fail to remember in times of sorrow and times
like these is that Our Heaven Father understands and knows exactly how we feel
because you see it was HIS only begotten Son who was buried
in that cold grave in that Garden 2000 years ago.
We need to be reminded today that:
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
We all see the dark cold grave but friends we need to remember in times like these that
There was a garden!
In most cemeteries today we find a Garden of remembrance
- it is aptly called because each and everyone of us -
our lives and deeds can be likened unto a garden.
And each and every one of us is building and cultivating a garden of remembrance around us!
Yes, we will all leave behind a garden of remembrance behind us one day.
And now the important question - We all know the lovely garden -
the beautiful memories that Aidan has left behind
- the garden of his memory will always be cherished -
but what about the garden that you will leave behind ?
What will be said about the garden of your heart?
Jesus promised His disciples:
John 14:1-2
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
Friend, when Death's angel knocks at your heart's door
please make sure that Jesus the Rose of Sharon
is planted in your heart's garden because in the Bible
- Jesus said:
John 14:6
I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.
It is my prayer and hope that this short message will be a comfort
to you in this time of sorrow.
May this word also encourage you to prepare the Garden of your heart
for that day when death's angel knocks at your door !
Gerry,
There is a lovely house for sale at 5 Mount Vincent Cottages, Rosbrien Road, Limerick. Asking price 229,000 Euros. It would be great for Evangelical Christians to have a Drop In Centre, as you know it was for many years. Well know the Pastor Kevin's & the Pastor Paddy's etc could ask the Lord to do a Miracle, as these people believe He still does them today. There is enough room in the back for a nice Hall & the house is big enough for any of these Bible believing Christians (1 Corinthians 9:1-27).
Well, what do you think. Maybe you & the lads could set up a Mennonite group & live in community? The sky is the limit!
Leonardo
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