My aunt, Twila Brompton, is home with the Lord today. I don’t often process things by writing, but this is one of those times I need to. She’s been struggling with liver failure for a number of years now, and in the evening of June 6th her body finally shut down. My dad, her brother, was able to be there when she died, peacefully in her own bed. I am in Puerto Rico right now, and I will be missing her funeral and memorial service. It’s not that I don’t want to – she has been an incredible woman of God and a solid rock to our whole family for as long as I’ve known her. But she had a heart for missions as strong as any I’ve ever seen. Her farmhouse has hosted dozens, if not hundreds, of missionaries as they travel through her area. There’s even a house on her property set up specifically for missionary families. She lived out a life of mission to her community – visiting the sick, bringing comfort to the grieving, and sharing her food with everyone she possibly could. Her faith has left an impact in the lives of her four daughters, who all carry the same heart for praising God with their lives. The Kingdom of God is today lacking an incredible influence on Earth, and she will be dearly missed by all who knew her.
I have every confidence that if she knew in advance that I’d be on the mission field when she went home to God, she would have told me to stay here, to finish the task. I’ll mourn her, certainly, but I understand from her life that the call of the Kingdom takes precedence. It’s hard to know that I’ll visit the farm and she’ll be gone. Its hard to think about how her husband, a strong hardworking cowboy, will have to go on without his wife of 37 years. It’s hard to think of her daughters, four beautiful women of God, who will now be without their strongest spiritual anchor. But Jesus never promised things wouldn’t be hard. He rather did the opposite, in fact. There’s an encounter he had with a man where he said, in the same way he called his disciples, “Follow me.” The guy replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
It’s a reasonable request, right? Let the guy close out his time with his father, who probably at that time was dependant on the guy for housing and meals. Wrap up the loose ends, get some closure on one chapter of your life, and then follow God’s call. Jesus isn’t into sugarcoating it, though. “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” That’s rough. Some might even say callous. But it’s a call Christ repeats over and over throughout his ministry. “Come, follow me. Leave behind all you have, all you know, and follow me out into the glorious unknown of ME.” Jesus once told one man to sell everything he had and give the money to the poor. Even Peter did a doubletake at that one. “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” he asks. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no-one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.”
A year and a half ago, when I started this crazy journey, I told God that I’d leave behind everything if he asked. Today he’s asking me to hold to that promise. I’ve got an assignment here in Puerto Rico for the summer to work with the next generation of Kingdom builders, and I know that’s something Twila would support – because she knows well the concept of giving her life for the sake of supporting the Kingdom of God. I can see the truth of Jesus’ words reflected in her life. Over the years, God has indeed increased her family by every life she’s touched, and now she is enjoying the ultimate reward of eternal life in the presence of our Father. The next time I see her, she’ll be perfected. But for now, every time I remember her, I’ll remember the faithfulness of God to fulfil his promises – and the joy that comes from a life lived well before God.
Rest in peace, Aunt Twila. Poppa holds you in his arms today.
