Toasting with Grandma

Grandma and I celebrated Cinco de Mayo with virgin Margaritas one year. 

When we were kids we'd get off the bus at their house, so we spent a lot of time with them as kids. 

When Grandpa Swingle was 90 we called to make sure they were trusting in what Christ did for us on the cross. I told them I'd always looked up to them, but I couldn't recall hearing them talk about a relationship with the Lord. Grandma said, "Oh, yes! I have one!" I wasn't a bit surprised. Whenever she wasn't talking to someone she was singing or humming songs, many of which were hymns.

Grandpa's response to my questions was, "I guess I do." I asked him if he were to die if he thought he'd go to heaven. He said, "I sure hope so." I asked him if the Lord asked him why He should let him into Heaven what he would say. Grandpa said, "I don't know. What would I say?" I shared Romans 10:9 with him: "If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. " We led him in a prayer to accept what Christ did on the cross so that he could have assurance of living with Him forever.

Just shy of his 96th birthday I had a booking that had been arranged a year before that put me in Oregon the week that he died. Joyce and I were able to pray with him, read scripture and sing hymns that celebrated the decision he'd made to make Jesus Christ his Lord and Savior. There was a moment when several were in the room chatting. I looked over at Grandpa and he was looking at me with a big grin. I knew he was thanking me for giving him assurance of where he'd spend eternity.

Over the last few years I've done my best to call Grandma every week. On our last call she was in particularly good spirits. When I prayed with her, as I always did, I prayed that she'd share the Love of the Lord with those around her, and she said a hearty, "Amen!" If you feel loved by God right now, then that prayer was answered!