HOPE LINKS:
SHARING WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR YOU.
ABOUT YOUR FINAL ARRANGEMENTS
National Cemeteries. Burial benefits for qualified military veterans include a grave site in a national cemetery, opening and closing of the grave, perpetual care, a Government headstone or marker, a burial flag, and a Presidential Memorial Certificate, at no cost to the family. Cremated remains are buried or interned in national cemeteries with the same honors as casketed remains.
Willamette National Cemetery is located about 10 miles southeast of Portland, Oregon, straddling the Multnomah and Clackamas County lines. A contingent of the Oregon National Guard performs full military honors.
What is Your View on Cremation Versus Burial by Randy Alcorn. Choosing between traditional burial and cremation can be a struggle. Randy suggests Scriptures and thoughts to consider as you make this decision.
After Care Cremation and Burial, Gresham, OR is a funeral home known for its low costs. Its website hosts numerous resources for dealing with grief.
Sandy Funeral Home, Sandy, OR offers an online pre-planning tool.
ABOUT THE POWER TO BLESS
The Blessing by Gary Smalley & John Trent, Ph.D. explains how the biblical gift of “the blessing” can be a key to one’s self-worth and emotional well-being. The Blessing consists of five essential elements: meaningful touch, a spoken message, attaching value, picturing a special future, and an active commitment. If you’ve missed out on the approval of your parents, the final chapters are for you. The authors list sample blessings based on scriptures: Psalm 1, Psalm 15, Proverbs 3:5-6, Proverbs 3:7-8, Proverbs 1:23-25, Proverbs 2:1-8, and Proverbs 3:1-4. For additional assistance in passing on a legacy of love and acceptance, consult www.TheBlessing.com Pass on a legacy of love and acceptance to your children, your spouse, your friends, and parents with The Blessing.
Love Letters to A Child by Tracey Fink. Writing a love letter to your child is an easy and effective way to affirm your child’s uniqueness as a creation of God, bond with your child, celebrate and encourage character growth, document milestones in your child’s spiritual journey, and establish a family legacy.
ABOUT HEAVEN
Eternity 101, taught by Randy Alcorn at Corban University, addresses the myths and misconceptions about Heaven, questions about life after the resurrection, and whether there is continuity between our present life on earth and our future life in Heaven. Randy’s hope is “that this course will bring eternity to light in a way that will surprise you, spark your imagination, draw you closer to Jesus, and change how you live today.”
Heaven by Randy Alcorn. Our understanding of heaven is often limited to a few half-forgotten Sunday school lessons and the images provided by movies and T.V. Fortunately, Randy Alcorn provides us with a thoroughly researched and biblically definitive description of heaven.
Fear Not! Death and the Afterlife from a Christian Perspective by Ligon Duncan gives a brief overview of the afterlife – heaven and hell – and it shows us why Christians have nothing to fear in death.
If I Should Die Before I Wake by Sinclair Ferguson & K. Scott Oliphint. In this book, readers are treated to a summary of the biblical teaching on heaven, helping us understand what we can expect from living in God’s unmediated presence.
ABOUT DYING
The Fading of the Flesh and the Flourishing of Faith by George Swinnock. It is important that we not only live well but that we also die well. This classic puritan work explores this theme.
Sunsets: Reflections for Life’s Final Journey by Deborah Howard, RN, CHPN. Because one death touches many lives, it is important for both those who are dying and those who love them to be prepared. Here Deborah Howard shares words of comfort and encouragement, firm faith in Christ, and years of working as a hospice nurse to create a uniquely sensitive, experiential, and biblical volume. She emphasizes that there is a light that cuts through death’s dark shadow. That light is Jesus Christ, and He offers hope and comfort to all who are facing life’s final journey.
How the Gospel Brings us All the Way Home by Derek W.H. Thomas. This exposition of Romans 8 shows us how we need the gospel from conversion to glorification, exploring what it does for us at every stage of the Christian Life.
ABOUT SURVIVING GRIEF
Tear Soup by Pat Schwiebert and Chuck Deklyen affirms the bereaved, and educates the unbereaved. Tear Soup is also a building block for children.
The Dougy Center is a non-profit based in Portland, Oregon that offers support groups and services to children and young adults grieving a death. The Dougy Center is the first organization of its kind in the United States. 500 independent programs around the world are based on its model, more than 300 of which were trained by the organization’s staff. Walker’s Center in Canby is an extension.
Surviving Grief by Sandy Zaugg can be read in one sitting. The freshly bereaved might read it repeatedly much like one might consult a compass. While the author skillfully validates the emotions involved in loss, her story is not a heart-rending blow by blow that will depress you. Instead, you will connect. I found myself tearing up, laughing out loud and even nodding. Sandy Zaugg writes with the voice of authenticity. She has been there.
GriefShare seminars and support groups for adults are led by people who understand what you are going through and want to help. Valuable GriefShare resources help you recover from your loss and look forward to rebuilding your life.
Letter to a Grieving Heart by Billy Sprague. To those facing the loss of a loved one, Sprague revisits his own landscape of mourning—the tragic death of his fiancée, the loss of his beloved grandmother, the departure of a dear friend. With sensitivity, he writes about the numbing reality of grief’s shadowland and the sources of light and hope, the wise words, the acts of kindness, and surprising revelations that eased him back into the land of the living.
“The Shadowlands” In April 1956, C.S. Lewis, a confirmed bachelor, married Joy Davidman, an American poet with two small children. After four brief, intensely happy years, Lewis found himself alone and inconsolable. This is the unflinching account of how a stalwart believer lost his sense of bearings in the “mad midnight moment” of grief. This story is also told in A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis.
A Grief Sanctified: Through Sorrow to Eternal Hope by J.I. Packer. Richard and Margaret Baxter had been married only nineteen years before she died at age forty-five. A prominent pastor and prolific author, Baxter sought consolation and relief the only true way he knew – in Scripture with his discipline of writing. Within days he produced a lover’s tribute to his mate and a pastor’s celebration of God’s grace. It is spiritual storytelling at its best made all the more poignant by the author’s unveiling of his grief. J. I. Packer added his own astute reflections along with his edited version of this exquisite memoir.
Holding on to Hope: A pathway through suffering to the heart of God by Nancy Guthrie. Shunning platitudes and easy answers, Guthrie deals head-on with the issues experienced by those going through suffering and loss. Drawing upon the biblical story of Job and the experience of losing her infant daughter Hope, Nancy takes her fellow sufferers by the hand and guides them on a pathway through pain—straight to the heart of God.