"To Be Called Home"

This story is probably one of the most spiritually influential stories of my life. So I figured it would be appropriate for the first one I tell. 

It was about 11:30, and I had just texted my close friends that it looked like my grandpa was going to make it through the night. I, along with my brother Justin, had left camp only hours before. We arrived at the nursing home sometime after 8, and at that time, the room was filled with family and friends. Grandpa was lying on his bed with an oxygen mask to his face. Next to him was my grandma, and on the other side of him, my mother. My mom had spent years doing everything she could to take care of her parents. Now it seemed that it all was boiling down to this night.

As time progressed, a sense of comfort fell over the room, and people slowly began to head home for the night. By 11:00, everyone had gone aside from Justin, my parents, and me. My grandpa was resting and we began to discuss about heading home, getting some rest ourselves, and coming back in the morning. It was at that time when I sat down and sent an update to my friends.

However, shortly after I sent the update, something went wrong. I’m not sure what exactly happened, but my grandpa’s breathing had changed. It was a little after midnight and the nurse came back to check him. She looked up and told my mother to call the family, because his breathing would not sustain him much longer.

The only thing that I can recall with detail was the wave of emotions that hit next. Take extreme sorrow and grief and mix it with a sense of joy. For the past five years, I had been prepared for this. But at this moment, was I truly ready? Not only was everything boiling down for my mother, but for me as well. At around 12:30, his breathing became really slow to the point where it was about to give out.

All I could do was watch, cry, and pray. As time was winding down, I found myself quietly praying through my tears, “Go home, grandpa. Just go home.” Then something happened, something that everyone in the room noticed. His eyes became like they were glazed and wide open, and his head tilted upward. At that moment, he breathed his last.

I can say, in that place and moment in time, I had just witnessed my grandpa going home to be with his Savior.