Last week I had the privilege of attending the memorial service for Dr. Bill Cooper, who founded the Emmaus Biblical Seminary in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, that my friends Vilmer and Lucner attended.

Dr. Bill was in the Salvation Army early in his ministry career, and therefore was entitled to the tradition of this banner at his memorial:

I just want to add one thing: Bill died suddenly. He was 90, and he was recovering from some health issues. But the day of his “promotion” he was getting dressed when he fell and hit his head. No one knows whether he had a stroke or an embolism that caused the fall or the other way around. No matter, as his widow, Ruth, said, “We just have to be ready to go anytime.”

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4.16 – 18, ESV)

For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we’ll never have to relocate our “tents” again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less. (2 Corinthians 5.1 – 5, MSG)