A few days ago, we returned from Jackson, Miss., via I-55. Alongside the road somewhere during the couple hour trip there was a white cross stuck in the ground. On the cross was red lettering that spelled a name, Tiffany Brewer.
I wondered for miles about her. Who was she? What had happened to her? Was it an automobile accident as I presumed? Did she die?
What was her favorite hobby, her favorite color, her favorite book, music, TV show, movie? Was she young? Did she have time to find love and lose it or maybe, just maybe find it and keep it?
Who was Tiffany Brewer and why did she pick up her cross and leave it beside the road?
On the trip Mary and I made, we visited my parent's grave and dropped off some black and gold Saints ribbon. I told my Dad that the Saints had won the Super Bowl, though for the life of me I felt stupid doing that. I mean, if he is in heaven (as I assume that he is with his confession of Jesus as Lord and all), then I didn't have to go to the grave to tell him anything because his soul isn't there and his body is incapable of understanding. Still, it made me feel like somehow I had made him a part of this whole celebration.
Looking at the gravestones, I thought about who they were and how much I miss them and all the thoughts one has when standing in front of his parents' graves on a windswept cold afternoon in the woods outside of Meridian, Miss.
Jesus makes it clear at the end of scripture (sorry Mormons) what the future holds for my Dad, my Mom, maybe even Tiffany Brewer: And behold, Jesus says, "I am coming quickly and My reward is with Me, to give every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.
Reward? To give every one according to his work? What about all that saved by grace through faith business?
It still exists, friends. But clearly Jesus brings reward to continuing to work on our salvation, to continue to seek after perfection, to continue to be sanctified. Clearly.
I say all that to say this...Tiffany Brewer, if she believed in Jesus as her savior and professed it with her mouth was saved. Period. If she continued, in what I presume was a short life, to feed the poor, help the homeless, testify to the good news and generally work for those who are marginalized, her reward in heaven was substantial.
Who was Tiffany? Where did she come from and where did she go?
Thoughts on the road.
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