Grandma

On March 27, 2005 I received a call from my father. He called to tell me that his Mother (my Grandmother), Esther Cox, had passed away after a sudden illness. I told my father that I would be there as soon as possible. I then made travel arrangements to travel from my home in NJ to Niles, Michigan where my parents live. After a few phone calls I arranged to fly from Philadelphia, Pa. to Chicago, Ill., and then take a Hertz rental car from Chicago to Niles, which is a small town in the southwest corner of Michigan.


During the journey I began thinking of my Grandmother and started remembering memories of her and my childhood. It had been many years since I had lived in Niles. I had joined the Navy in 1977, and after spending 12 years in the Navy, had spent the last 16 years working and living in New Jersey, so I hadn’t had the opportunity to live around my Grandmother for a long time. There had been occasional visits over the years, but nothing of a sustained nature. I did have many fond memories however of my childhood, and spending time at her house as a child.

I remembered the times when our family would get together at her house for Christmas, Easter, and other occasions. I remembered how we would go to Grandmas’ prior to Christmas so she, my mother and aunts, could make Christmas cookies. Those sugar cookies were so big, round and thick, and were some of the best cookies I’ve ever had. I remembered going over to her house for home made noodles and chicken, and how great it tasted. I remembered spending Sunday evenings at her house while watching Ed Sullivan and eating bowls of vanilla ice cream (she always had a big 5-gallon tub of vanilla ice cream in her deep freezer on the porch). I remembered helping put red worms in Styrofoam cups for Grandpa Cox’s worm business, and I remembered the excitement of going to Bankston Lake with her and my Grandfather in the summer. The one thing I remembered the most about my Grandmother, during all those occasions, was her laugh. She had the most amazing laugh. I remembered as a child, when she laughed, how it seemed like the whole world was laughing. Thinking back, it seemed like the whole world was laughing a lot in those days.

I wasn’t sure if my Grandmother had any religious convictions or not. I wondered in my heart, as I traveled home for the funeral, if she had ever had the opportunity to receive the Lord and his forgiveness, but I didn’t know the answer, nor did I suspect, that I ever would.

When I arrived at my parents on Monday, March 28, 2005, I was asked to go with my father to my Grandmothers’ apartment to find a key for a security box, which had belonged to my Grandma. I felt a strong desire to go, although I wasn’t sure why. When we got to the apartment the key wasn’t where it was supposed to be, so I began helping my father look for it. The first place I looked was in a roll up desk, and my eye was immediately caught by an old key chain with a picture of Jesus on it holding a lamb. Next I found pictures of Grandma standing in front of a local monument called the Old Rugged Cross. Again I found myself wondering about my Grandmothers’ relationship with the Lord. I then started looking for the missing key in the bedroom and the first thing I noticed was a bible, on the nightstand next to her bed. When I opened the drawer in the nightstand I found a devotional book with daily scripture readings for study. Inside of this book was a yellow sticky note, with Romans Chapter 8 handwritten on it.

I thought surely this was evidence that Grandma had a relationship with the Lord, and as I thought this I looked up and found myself staring at a picture of Jesus on the wall above Grandmas’ bed. Meanwhile my father and I still had not found the missing key, but then he remembered that Grandmas’ purse was at his house, where they had taken it from the hospital. He called my mother and had her look in the purse, and sure enough, there was the missing security box key. It had been at their house all along, and there never was a reason to search Grandmas’ apartment. However I felt like I knew the reason.

When I awoke Tuesday morning I felt a strong need to open up a book that I had brought along with me. It was a devotional book, similar to the one that was in my Grandmothers’ night stand. I opened it to the page for Tuesday, March 29, 2005 and began reading the daily devotional message it contained. It was a message about God’s unconditional love and how he loves us, even if we don’t deserve that love. The bible verse that it referenced was found in Romans Chapter 8, the same chapter that was handwritten on the sticky in my Grandmothers’ devotional book. The verse was Romans, Chapter 8 Verse 39, which when combined with Verse 38 reads as follows:

“For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, not any creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”

When I read this I no longer had any doubt in my mind. I was totally convinced that the Lord had provided the answers to the questions which I had concerning my Grandmothers’ relationship with him, and I was totally at peace knowing that Grandma was with him, and that she will be with him forever.

The next day at the cemetery, the pastor officiating over Grandmas’ funeral talked about the joy of knowing the Lord, and I was suddenly overcome by a vision of my Grandmother laughing. In my head I could hear her loud, boisterous laugh and I knew that the Lord was telling me not to fear, that my Grandmother was home with him and would never have to worry again. A couple months later my parents presented me with the picture of the Lord which had been above her bed and the devotional book that had contained the yellow sticky note with Romans 8 written on it. That picture now hangs above my bed and I have read the devotional book everyday.