Joshua Alive

"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,  it remains alone, but if it dies it bears much fruit."
John 12:24

Miracles

Clean

after he died
i mean after he was buried
after it rained 40 days and 40 nights
everyone wanted their shoes shined

no mud on his shoes

a pink carnation appeared in his heart
the little girl told

her mother said
don’t talk like that
disrespectful!
the dead will get you
her brother said

pink is what she remembered

***
rjz


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Here’s Your Sign

 

We had a 40 day memorial service for Joshua Sunday September 30th, 2007 and we brought the flowers from the service to the cemetery that Sunday afternoon.  I rode my motorcycle to the cemetery the following Thursday.  Seeing that the flowers needed fresh water, I took them down the hill to the faucet, filled the vase with water, rearranged the flowers and walked back up the hill to the grave.  I put the vase back into the ground and stepped a few feet away to see how the looked and they were fine.  Then I prayed and talked to Joshua, crying and telling him how badly I miss him and how hard it is for all of us to go on without him. Then I asked Joshua and the Lord to send me a sign sometime in the coming week that Joshua is well, present with the Lord and happy.  When I opened my eyes and looked at the flowers….I could hardly believe my eyes:  One stem of yellow flowers was…out of the vase. . . stuck straight into the ground, 8-10 inches away from the vase.  Hereeee’s your sign!  Joshua is at peace and in the presence of the Lord he trusted in all the days of his life.   Joshua’s dad                                                                                            

 


Signs and Wonders
Sometimes it is odd, what human beings will debate.  For instance there is the question of whether miracles happen, or if life after death exists.  In our age, we do not like to believe in things that we cannot prove.  It can be embarassing.  Not too long ago I was listening to a science show in which scientists were making fun of people that  believe in a creator--even people that accept evolution, but believe that someone greater than the process started it.  It was a little hard to listen to these guys, mainly because of their scornfulness towards those that may disagree with them.

Some people looking at the picture above and reading of Tim's experience might look for ways to discredit it  or question if the photo is real or contrived. That is ok--because questions are perhaps the most important tool for learning that we have.  We weren't sure whether to put this story and picture on the website because we don't base our faith in God and an afterlife solely on ancedotal evidence such as this.  Before this sign happened, it was already our belief and hope that Joshua has moved through the veil of lies that covers the world in this life and into a deeper oneness with God. 

After Joshua's death, I was looking through his Bible.  He hadn't marked alot of passages, but there was one section in the Old Testament he had shaded in bold purple.  It says, " These are the things you shall do:  Speak the truth to one another, render in your gates (courts) judgments that are true and make for peace, do not devise evil in your hearts aganst one another, and love no false oath; for all these are things that I hate, says the Lord." Zechariah 9:3 NRSV.

Most people who were close to Joshua, and some that only knew him professionally or as an acquaintance talk about Joshua's genuineness and approachability.  As his mom, I may be biased, but more than once I have felt that what Jesus Christ said about one of his disciples many years ago, is also true of Joshua, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit." John 1:48.

I love you, Joshua. Not because you were perfect, but because you are real.
* * *

mom


 "Unclean" Miracles 

Perhaps there will always be those who believe in groups of “unclean” people.  Although we seldom place ourselves within these groups, we find it easy to populate them with others, usually for a particular sin or sins or belief or unbelief.  Those who have succumbed to what was termed “suicide,” in the past, are such a group.  More than once it has been posited that they have committed the unforgivable sin because suicide is supposedly a sin, and a sin that cannot be repented of. Those close to these deeply wounded people must bear this stigma and shame, and presumably slink away.  After all, why didn’t we heal  them or stop them from dying?  What is wrong with us?  And,  as one person asked me after Joshua died, “what about the guilt?” 

First, if there is no Creator, can there be any guilt or shame?  Aren’t there merely choices that cannot truly be distinguished one from the other, except by how we feel about them? And doesn’t this change from moment to moment, person to person?

Second, to those who believe in a Creator,  if we truly love in the name of this Creator, wouldn't we beg him/her to let us take the place of anyone who might fall short of paradise? Wouldn't we beg God that we be the ones for whom there is no rescue and no savation? What if we became the "unclean?" Would this be a miracle?  Every day each one of us chooses death. We choose death when we lie, we choose death when we do not do good to our enemy,  we choose death by judging  beggars instead of sharing our wealth and asking them to pray for us who are sinners, and we choose death when we think we are superior to others in any way.  But thankfully,

"If… we choose death rather than true life, God does not take away the power that He gave us. And not only does He not take it away, but He reminds us of it again and again. From the dawn till the dusk of life… For, indeed, no one can come to Christ, as He Himself said in the Gospels, unless the Father draws him (cf. Jn. 6:44)." * 

God only calls the unclean, the rest have no need to be drawn  to and held in his bosom.  This is the miracle. +


*From St. Gregory Palamas (The Philokalia Vol. 4; Faber and Faber pg. 279):

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Copyright . Renee Zitzloff. All rights reserved, this includes photographs. Please let others know about this site, but if you want to use text or pictures from it, please contact me at Renee-mary@comcast.net. I am grateful to my sister-in-law Barli for taking photos of the funeral and reviewal.  Thanks, Barli.
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