On Sunday, January 12, 2003 my Mother died. Although it was nine years ago today, I remember it as though it happened yesterday, in vivid detail. Geneva (Criss) Sparks had lived a long, joyous and triumphant life in the Lord. However, in the last few years she lived with a great amount of physical pain. My only solace in losing her was the knowledge she was no longer in pain, and she was in the “everlasting arms” of our LORD.
THE ETERNAL GOD IS THY REFUGE, AND UNDERNEATH ARE THE EVERLASTING ARMS:
My Dad the Rev. Edgar Calvin Criss, died in 1971, I was just six years old. In
losing Mom it felt to me like I was losing my Dad all over again. Mom held so strongly to the truth and faith that Dad preached so strongly as Pastor of the Apostolic Pentecostal Church in Massillon, Ohio. And being the closest connection to Dad, she was the one who could best describe and let me know what my Daddy was like, and who he was. I have always bottled up my strongest emotions only releasing them when I’m alone and when with my God. I remember in vivid detail several years after my Dad died, waking up in the middle of the night shaking and crying and repeatedly saying, “I miss my Daddy, I want my Daddy back”. I was always sure to be quiet enough not to disturb anyone sleeping, my emotions were bottled up and I didn’t want anyone to know.
Those same emotions were about to reappear. Just a couple of weeks after Mom died I was on a business trip in Michigan. Being several hundred miles away from any family, there was no one I could be strong for. It was late in the evening when I arrived, and too late to call anyone. I felt so alone and isolated. Two weeks of bottled up emotions while trying to be strong for others had suddenly been released unrestrained. But I had been given a gift, something to lean on, and something to trust in during my darkest hour.
TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL THINE HEART; AND LEAN NOT UNTO THINE OWN UNDERSTANDING.
My Parents’ passed on a tremendous legacy to my siblings and me, of which I am extremely thankful for. One of the most crucial lessons I learned while growing up, was that I could not rely only on my parents’ faith and prayers for my salvation. The older I became I realized I was going to have to find this thing for myself. But what I have come to know as the truth, is not in my heart just because of them, they simply started me on my journey. I learned from them how to reach God for myself, and not trust in the riches or gods of this world to lead and guide me.
LABOUR NOT FOR THE MEAT WHICH PERISHETH, BUT FOR THAT MEAT WHICH ENDURETH UNTO EVERLASTING LIFE, WHICH THE SON OF MAN SHALL GIVE UNTO YOU: FOR HIM HATH GOD THE FATHER SEALED.
I found a hiding place, entering into the Holiest of Holies by the blood of Jesus.
THOU ART MY HIDING PLACE AND MY SHIELD: I HOPE IN THY WORD.
It is there where I met God for myself; it is there where He continually reveals His word to me. I have found that the greatest time to read the Bible for me is after an encounter with God in prayer. Starting in my parents’ lives’, continuing in mine, my prayers and hope is for that same faith to be established in my children’s lives.
STUDY TO SHOW THYSELF APPROVED UNTO GOD, A WORKMAN THAT NEEDETH NOT TO BE ASHAMED, RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH.
While with my oldest daughter Erica (who was 12 at the time), not long after Mom died, I asked her the question, “What will you remember the most about your Grandma Geneva?” She said, “I will never forget every time we stayed with her overnight, when I woke up in the morning I would always go in the family room to see her, and she was ‘always’ praying and reading her Bible.” Mom had left an indelible impression on my children. She was in the Church service praying with my youngest daughter, when Erin received the baptism of the Holy Ghost speaking in tongues as the spirit gave the utterance.
The reflection on these things so soon after her death brought me to realize the blessing that had been bestowed upon me, my children, my siblings and many others through the faith of my parents’. Although they are no longer with us, the memories of their faith, their devotion to God and family, and their instruction remain. And their prayers will never be forgotten in heaven.
…AND GOLDEN VIALS FULL OF ODOURS, WHICH ARE THE PRAYERS OF SAINTS.
Though the heartache of the loss of my parents’ will never be mended, it is a constant reminder to me, of the blessing that God gave to my children and me. It is my prayer today that the passion Dad and Mom had for God that blessed so many people, will also become embedded in the hearts of my children and all of our family, until the day we shall all be with the Lord.
Scripture references (All KJV); Deuteronomy 33:27, Proverbs 3:5, John 6:27, Psalms 119:114, 2 Tim 2:15, Rev. 5:8.
Daniel Criss
President/Founder
Life Achievement Services, Inc.
awsome danny, awsome.
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