Homeward Bound

T.J. Cantrelle died this weekend. Before that, however, he really lived. He packed a lot into 17 years.
“Everybody is getting to see what a special person he was. He was a good looking kid, but he was just as good looking on the inside as he was on the outside,” said T.J.’s father, Jimmy Cantrelle.

“The program has him at 140. That’s giving him at least 10 pounds,” Jimmy said. “He never ran out of bounds. He never ran around anybody. He didn’t care how big you were. He was going to show you that he was going to run over you instead of around you. He played the game for the game, for the competition.”

Last Friday night, T.J. Cantrelle played the game of his life, leading Vandebilt Catholic to a 34-12 victory against district rival South Lafourche.

“Best game of his career,” Jimmy said. “His passing was right on.”

It was a game T.J. wasn't expected to play in because of an injury, but one in which he prayed all week to be a part of.

“Maybe God had a plan. Maybe God let him have his best game because it was going to be his last game,” Jimmy said. T.J. died in an automobile accident coming home from the LSU football game on Saturday night, taking three friends with him when the truck they were in lost control and flipped.

God once told the Israelites, who had been taken from their land given by God, "My people, do not be afraid; people of Israel, do not be terrified. I will rescue you from that faraway land, from the land where you are prisoners. You will come back home and live in peace; you will be secure, and no one will make you afraid. I will come to you and save you."

God was talking about the persons who had been removed by force from Judah, the southern kingdom, by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia.

But the passage could be talking about us, as well.

We are prisoners in a life we didn't create and can barely get by in. But one day, a day only God knows, He will come for us to take us to a home where we will live in peace, in security, and no one will ever make us afraid again.

The Bible is clear here. John 14: 1-3 (from the Message) tells us "Don't let this throw you. You trust God, don't you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father's home. If that weren't so, would I have told you that I'm on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I'm on my way to get your room ready, I'll come back and get you so you can live where I live."

There is a room for us, in a large home for us. But we must wait for God to come get us. That's the plan, and that's what God executes.

"On that great day," God says, "I will round up all the hurt and homeless, everyone I have bruised or banished. I will transform the battered into a company of the elite. I will make a strong nation out of the long lost, A showcase exhibit of God's rule in action, as I rule from Mount Zion, from here to eternity."

Our prayers go out to the families who lost children. There is no greater pain, I would think. Nothing I say, or do, or even pray will take that pain away. They will live with it for a long time.

But Paul tells us that our suffering on this earth is but a short, short time compared to the wonderful blessing of eternal life with God in our Father's House.

We're all in the process of going home, even as I write this. Some will go more quickly than others. Some will be home even before nightfall. The key is what home we'll be going to.

Till then, "My mouth is filled with God's praise. Let everything living bless him, bless his holy name from now to eternity!"