Early this morning I was present as my friend Tom Matthew Hodges passed away after a long and courageous struggle with Muscular Dystrophy. Doctors said he would likely pass away in his teens or early 20s. He was 32.
In my four years of knowing Tom Matthew I witnessed his journey from anger and bitterness into the peace that surpasses all understanding. When he passed this morning Tom Matthew was not only ready, he was holy.
This morning on the way to school I shared the news with my daughter Gabby who had a real fondness for Tom Matthew. There was a brief silence in the backseat and then she spoke.
"I have a question about heaven," she said. "What happens to our bodies?"
I told her the Bible says there will be a new heaven and a new earth and we will receive new bodies also. "What is buried feeble and broken will be raised whole."
"When?" she asked.
"I don't know for sure," I said, "but I hope it's right now." Gabby said she hoped the same thing.
Tom Matthew hoped also. At the end, when he could do nothing else - neither walk not drink not eat- he could still hope. And he did. He grew into hope and then clung to it. He showed me the meaning of what it is to "hope against hope."
After Tom Matthew passed his caretaker Josh went into Tom Matthew's room and brought out CDs he had made for each of his family members. Each CD had a Bible verse Tom Matthew selected to leave behind as final words of consolation and hope.
To Tom Matthew's parents this from John 16:33:
"I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!”
And to Tom Matthew's sister this from John 11: 25, words of Jesus to Martha as she wept at the tomb of her brother Lazarus:
“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live."
Tom Matthew believed. And because of that he will live. In fact, he lives even now, whole and free with a new body. This is our great hope.
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