By Brenda Cannon Henley
Many of our readers know that I experienced two great personal losses in October of this last year. People die every day and every hour somewhere in the world, but when it hits close to home or takes someone meaningful in our own lives, it gets our attention and causes us to really give serious thought to the matter of the hereafter. I do not intend to embark on a deep theological discussion here about death and what we each may believe, but I do know that for me, and for most of my family, without the hope of life after death that the Apostle Paul wrote about, I might be blue and despondent on a daily basis.

Neither do I want to write a “sad” and “blue” column for the first one of 2014. I am a positive person by nature, try to look for the good in all situations (as much as possible) and go out of my way to reach out to others and help when I can. But, with that being written, I have given a lot of new and different thought to the matter of death in the past two months or so. Ted and I are getting bit older (as you are) and we have made an effort to tie up all loose business ends of our lives, see that the legal paperwork is in order, appoint people of good standing to handle our affairs after we are gone, and tried diligently to make it easy on the kids to carry on once we leave this earth.

While on a trip to Georgia in October for reunions, I got a call from my former across the street neighbor on the beach, Charlie Carlin. He and I had been communicating often about a photography book he was putting together of his outstanding work. I recognized the number and knew that it was Charlie calling from Arkansas, where he had moved. He said, “Are you guys home yet? Are you back in Texas?” Then, I heard a gurgling sound and some unintelligible sounds, and then silence, but I knew the phone had not been disconnected. About two hours later, I got a call from Charlie’s pastor saying his nurse had walked into his beautiful little home on the lake and found him dead. I was stunned. A few days later, Jamie Greer, Ted, and I drove to Arkansas for Charlie’s lovely memorial service and to meet his friends there.

Shortly after that call, Ted and I received a text from his niece saying that Ted’s only sibling, his sister, Martha Henley Ladd, of Bevel Oaks, was in the hospital in Beaumont and was critically ill and likely would not live until we could get there. We set out from Georgia and drove straight through to try to see Martha. Ted and his sister were very close because they are the only ones left in their family other than some cousins. We made it to St. E’s around 5:30 and Martha moved to Heaven before 11:00 that night. We did get to say our goodbyes, but these deaths moved me and Ted misses his sister and good friend, and especially so, during the holidays.

The point of this column is to state clearly that this is the time to prepare for that call for any of us. We literally never know when it will be made. Only God controls the plan for each individual life and it is to our benefit to be ready when He chooses that our lives will end here on earth. Trust Him today for salvation, for grace, for caring, for leading, and for hope.

I found renewed hope today in something I read. In May of 2008, musical artist Steven Curtis Chapman, and his wife, Mary Beth, lost their lovely five-year-old daughter in a horrible traffic accident. Their hearts were broken. A pastor friend helped the Chapmans with this message, “Remember, your future with your daughter will be far greater than your past with her.” As Christians, we say we believe this, but do we really? Can we see that God’s promises of eternity are very real? In Acts 3:21, we read that God has promised a restoration of all things.” Our relationships, I believe, are a part of those “all things.” I am banking on that as I begin 2014.

Happy New Year to each of our readers and may God smile upon you and your family in this coming year.

Brenda Cannon Henley can be reached at (409) 781-8788 or at [email protected].

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