One week

It is Sunday and it is one week since my dad died.

I want to really, really thank those who posted prayers and comments here, all those who sent emails, and even posted on Facebook and MySpace. it meant so incredibly much to me hearing from you and I seriously thank you with all my heart for taking the time to do so. It means so much and I am so extremely, extremely grateful for your kindness and compassion.

This past week has been pretty much a blur. Fred Beveridge who is the pastor of Pascack Bible Church, (the church my mom and dad are part of) led the  funeral/memorial service. He walked through some passages from the New Testament about the reality of the resurrection and even gave time for people to pray and think about where they stand with Jesus. Fred has been really great and went to the hospital a couple of times and prayed for my dad. He has been at Pascack Bible Church for over 30 years. He even called my mom yesterday to check in, and I am so thankful she has a church community like Pascack Bible Church. Her two Bible studies have been bringing meals and spent time visiting and praying the past two weeks.

    At the memorial service it was quite an emotional experience. Our daughters stayed back in California (that is Katie to the left with my Dad last summer at Lake Tahoe) but Becky came out for the funeral. My parent's friends gathered, and I even had a few of my New Jersey childhood friends show up. They read about it in the paper and came. One friend was a neighbor who was a drummer and he is now a Christian and active in a local church here. He reminded me of the time when myself and another friend went to New York City to watch his band play and he told us that we were trying to convince him to put faith in Jesus that night. It is funny, as I have no recollection of that. But he is now a believer. I also had my childhood friends John and also Bill, show up in the evening. Bill is now a strong believer and was the one I was with when we went to New York City. That time period was during my college age years when I was exploring the Bible and becoming more and more convinced of it's inspiration and truth and was quite zealous, sometimes overzealous in telling others. I still am zealous, but have a little different tact about it now.

We had a private graveside service the day after the memorial/funeral service which I led. It was not easy to do. When you bury someone it is such a reality check of life and death and body and soul and values and family and community and love. After the graveside we went to lunch at a restaurant called The Bonfire, which was my dad's favorite restaurant for over 25 years. He would go there weekly for lunch and even went there the Wednesday before he had the fall at Yankee Stadium and the again the Wednesday after he fell, but before it was realized what occurred internally due to the fall. The Bonfire people knew him well and were so incredibly gracious and kind. It seriously felt like a restaurant that would be in a scene from the Sopranos would be in. It was totally New Jersey classical and great.

  It all still hasn't really sunk in yet, as we have been so incredibly busy being in the hospital and then the funeral. I am staying with my mom another 2 days before I go home to help her get some things set up. My mom and dad were married 52 years and I was so fortunate to have them as an example of marriage growing up. My brother left this morning who has been so great in helping my mom out sort through things here so she can manage on on her own.

On a more lighter note, I discovered that the New Jersey culture is somewhat formal with dress and funerals. I had to go buy a shirt and tie to wear for the memorial service. I went to a store and there was a rather pleasant and confident older and somewhat small gentleman who came over to help me select a tie (I took a cell phone photo of him, so that is him here in this photo to the left wearing the suit and tie). I rarely wear ties, so I am not that experienced in tie selection. He kept bringing me ties that I wasn't sure the color and pattern matched the shirt I was getting. So I kept saying "You sure this matches?" and I think he finally got fed up with me asking and he stared right into my eyes and said with great intensity "I have picked out ties for president Richard Nixon, I know what colors work with ties!" He told me that he used to work in a store where Richard Nixon would buy his suit and ties here in New Jersey when Richard Nixon lived locally near here after he was president.

With that burst of qualification and passion that he displayed, I immediately said "OK" and bought the tie he had there for me. The shirt and tie looked wonderful and I thank my tie expert for selecting the right one. We actually ended up talking about faith issues and church after that, which was very interesting as I had told him why I was getting the tie.

It is Sunday again. I miss my Dad. I also miss being at home, miss Katie and Claire and already miss Becky. I miss Vintage Faith Church, and I was supposed to be preaching today. I look forward to coming home, but know I need to be here for another 2 days for my mom. It is another really sunny and beautiful day and I am looking at the back of the little laminated card they make at the funeral homes and give out to people who come to the service. My mom picked out the verse for the back of it which I am looking at the card now which says:

In Loving Memory of Skip Kimball

October 21, 2007

"I am the Resurrection and the life.

He who believes in Me, even if he die

shall live."

-John 11:25