Goodbye, Grandpa

In a sad turn of events, my grandfather who was recently diagnosed with lymphoma passed away earlier tonight. As my brother remarked, we have been pretty lucky to not have experienced any deaths of extended family members we knew until now.

The most saddening part is that I know he lived a pretty amazing and eventful life, of which I know too little. But of what I do know, I'm thankful that he served for the Air Force in WWII, left a position of relatively high stature to come to the US and earn a living by cleaning houses, and yet was always generous with his friends and family. Here's a pic of part of his life that I didn't get to know:



He made it to 90 years old but had trouble hearing and seeing in recent years. But past the more recent memories where he was a shell of his former self, I remember him being very active for his age, eating healthy, always asking how things were going, and encouraging us through school. From relatives, I've heard stories of him picking me up from elementary school while I was in the Bay Area and buying my brother and I doughnuts. Hehe.. he definitely spoiled us. But with the pic in uniform, there was another pic of the man I remember fondly:



I'm somewhat confused by all the timing and circumstances that have surrounded this event.

1) I stayed a little later at work today and on my way out heard the piano playing, which by itself isn't an uncommon occurrence, but it happened to be Christian music. It was definitely a relaxing change to hear something like "You are my All in All" on my way out, which was about 10 minutes before my brother called with the news.

2) It also happened to occur during the ~3 days that I'm in town in between a vacation to Hawaii and business trip to London so I was able to witness it firsthand.

3) Finally, having recently gotten back in touch with Elaine, I looked at her blog and took a "What's your theological world view?" survey that included statements like, "It is possible that all may be saved in the end".

I'm somehow being challenged, but don't quite yet know how, but at least "God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand under it" (1 Cor 10:13). So who knows, maybe something interesting will come out of this...