Funeral homes are usually quiet, awkward and cold. Not today. This chapel was filled with conversation, laughter and warmth.

Joe would have liked that.

He and his sweetheart, Miss Betty, spent some Christmas dinners and other occasions in our home.

He would say, “How you feelin, girl?”

“Like crap. How about you?”

Big laugh. “Me too. Like I was hit by a truck.”

“Thank God for the gospel, right Mr. Joe?”

Bright blue eyes twinkling. “That’s right, girl. What would we do without it!”

We shared an affection for our respective propensity to speak candidly.

Joe was kind and generous and did amazing things like fix up old bikes and send them to kids in Camden with notes saying, “Jesus loves you.”

But, today, in that chapel, Joe’s life was not the biggest and loudest. Jesus was.

Joe desired people to know Jesus and have hope in eternity. All tributes spoke of this.

What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. James 4:14b

But God is eternal.

Grace be with you, my friends.