When we transition (die)

Grandfather and Grandmother's life

Well, we attended my wife's grandfather's memorial last night. This was a very interesting service. He had a massive stroke last week. His brain was dead, so they took him off life support and waited for him to die. No feeding tubes. No meds. No respirator. It took him over 4 days to die, but he had no brain wave activity after the first few hours after the stroke.

Let me tell you about two things that might interest people:

The memorial service

The family decided to just have a small family gathering at one of Grandfather's son's houses. Direct decendants only.

We read a prepared prayer and had 5 minutes of silence. That was it. I believe his was cremated this week.

This was a very short, seemingly appropriate service for the family. As an outsider - I married into the family - I was not sure what to make of it. Grandmother seemed to take this whole thing rather well, but my father-in-law was having problems.

On the way home my wife cried and said she wished she could take her father's pain away.

The conversation with Grandmother

I had a very interesting conversation with Grandmother at the memorial. It seems that she and one of my wife's uncles were in the hospital room for over 5 hours later Sunday night.

She described to me what she and her son were doing. They were witnessing the transition of Grandfather to Heaven. At one point, a duty nurse came in and asked if she could suction him to get rid of the noise. Grandmother replied that the noise was not coming from Grandfather, but from the trumpets sounding a welcome to Grandfather.

She said that she could feel the moment when his sole left his body. She and her son helped by releasing him to continue on his journey. His body was still alive at this time.

This brings up my main point: at what time does the sole/spirit leave the body?

Does it happen shortly before death, like with Grandfather? Or does it happen the instance you take your last breath?

I have read a lot about near death experiences. It seems to me that some of these people might have left their earthly body and then returned.

I guess I will have to spend more time in prayer and ask God to reveal this to me.

Your comments are always encouraged.

Your brother in Christ,
RBT