PRE-ARRANGED FUNERALS
Let me share what I know about pre-arranging for your final expenses. Expenses. No one wants to spend money on things that are necessary. When was the last time you were looking forward to going through the stress of shopping for a new automobile? What about groceries for dinner? And then, there are taxes we have to deal with. None of these things are things most of us look forward to. Funerals are in that category, I'm afraid.
However, that doesn't change facts. Someone will make final arrangements for you. Who are you going to saddle with that responsibility? When we arm ourselves with facts, it changes the entire paradigm. I am looking forward to impressing my loved ones with my funeral. I care about my children, my S.O., my grand baby, my parents. I want them to come away with nothing but good feelings, joy, happiness; not stress and sadness and anger.
Do you see the difference? I have my information written down: what to do, who to contact. I have my final expenses taken care of. They will not have to borrow money or wait for life insurance money or wonder if they made decisions I would have made. Personally, if I would have made them, I SHOULD have made them. I want them to be free to experience the moment and reflect on my life, not the mess I left them to deal with.
The future may not be as far away as you may think. Take the following story from KHOU for example:
"Mourners wearing yellow shirts gathered outside the school in the early morning hours to hold a memorial service for Shawn Williams, 16. Friends said yellow was the teen's favorite color.
Williams died and another teen was hospitalized in what police said was a shoplifting case that turned into a car chase. The two teens were innocent bystanders caught in the middle of the chaos."
I feel sorry for the parents and the rest of his family. There are two scenarios: either the parents are free to grieve, or they have the emotional task of making final arrangements for him. If they had made the arrangements for themselves, the child was probably covered with the same funeral that they made for themselves. Some funeral homes cover dependents in the event of the unthinkable.
Do you know that Joseph made final arrangements for his "bones" for such a time as when the Jewish people left Egypt? "Then Joseph said to his brothers, 'I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.' And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, 'God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.'" Genesis 50: 24-26 (NIV)
But now, there is no fear of death: "Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil--and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their FEAR of death." Hebrews 2: 14, 15 (NIV) Today, we should have wisdom, not fear. Today, we should take care of our own responsibilities.
So, leave a comment with your contact information and we will have a conversation to inform you and show you many benefits of pre-planning. I want everyone to enjoy the freedom to celebrate a life lived, not have your sorrow compounded by being forced to make decisions during the worst day of your life. No comments are posted without being screened, so your information will NOT be published.
I am also directing my own funeral. I have lived an exciting life. There is a particular message I want my loved ones to hear, that I prefer to deliver myself.
How about you? Would you like to direct your own funeral? Have you ever been to a funeral where the Minister did not know the deceased and couldn't even pronounce their name? Let's change that. Leave me a comment with your contact information.
What are your thoughts?
You are also invited to follow Oma at http://omaspolitics.blogspot.com and http://omaswisdom.blogspot.com.
"Mourners wearing yellow shirts gathered outside the school in the early morning hours to hold a memorial service for Shawn Williams, 16. Friends said yellow was the teen's favorite color.
Williams died and another teen was hospitalized in what police said was a shoplifting case that turned into a car chase. The two teens were innocent bystanders caught in the middle of the chaos."
I feel sorry for the parents and the rest of his family. There are two scenarios: either the parents are free to grieve, or they have the emotional task of making final arrangements for him. If they had made the arrangements for themselves, the child was probably covered with the same funeral that they made for themselves. Some funeral homes cover dependents in the event of the unthinkable.
Do you know that Joseph made final arrangements for his "bones" for such a time as when the Jewish people left Egypt? "Then Joseph said to his brothers, 'I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.' And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, 'God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.'" Genesis 50: 24-26 (NIV)
But now, there is no fear of death: "Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil--and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their FEAR of death." Hebrews 2: 14, 15 (NIV) Today, we should have wisdom, not fear. Today, we should take care of our own responsibilities.
So, leave a comment with your contact information and we will have a conversation to inform you and show you many benefits of pre-planning. I want everyone to enjoy the freedom to celebrate a life lived, not have your sorrow compounded by being forced to make decisions during the worst day of your life. No comments are posted without being screened, so your information will NOT be published.
I am also directing my own funeral. I have lived an exciting life. There is a particular message I want my loved ones to hear, that I prefer to deliver myself.
How about you? Would you like to direct your own funeral? Have you ever been to a funeral where the Minister did not know the deceased and couldn't even pronounce their name? Let's change that. Leave me a comment with your contact information.
What are your thoughts?
You are also invited to follow Oma at http://omaspolitics.blogspot.com and http://omaswisdom.blogspot.com.
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