You took everything when you left

You brought nothing here at birth, but you took everything when you left....
Who said ' when we die, we cannot bring anything with us' ?
Glory, when you died, you took so much with you:
You took with you all the sacrifice and efforts your parents put forth  for you 
all these years.
You took with you all our love and hope for you.
You took with you all the time our family spent together in joy and in sorrow.
You took with you the love, prayers and concerns of many people towards  you.
Glory, Daddy and Mommy are not upset at you for taking so much with  you when you left. 
Instead we are afraid you did not bring all these with you. All these years, Mommy 
tutored your school work. 
She put in time and effort in raising you. She taught you carefully. You had not 
disappointed her. 
You brought home outstanding grades and many awards. Over the years, Daddy taught 
you Bible stories.
Although I might not have been very meticulous in my teaching, I tried my best. 
I deeply believed at this moment, you have attained you crown of life. You have not 
disappointed us. Our efforts on you were not in vain.
You left with our love for you over the years, I trust that you will forever remember 
and when we meet in heaven some day, we are not strangers to you. Glory, as long as 
you are fully joyful there, free from the torture of  pain, Daddy and Mommy are willing 
to forego the sweetness of having you in  our family of 3. You left with the love and 
concern of many, such that you will not be lonely as you continue to live in this far 
away place, and walk this eternal path. We are extremely sad that we could not enter 
eternity along side with  you at this moment, but at least, our love can accompany you 
forever.
We are truly happy that you took so much with you. In retrospect, we felt that we had 
not given you enough in the past. For those who loved you, had they know you would be 
leaving, they would definitely try their best to give you even more.
That day, in ICU, that very last day, you started to tell me what you would want to take
with you when you leave, and what you would like to leave behind. The first thing you 
asked for was the wig newly bought 2 weeks before.  Since your first chemotherapy at the 
age of 14, with God's permission, thousand upon thousand strands of troubled hair fell 
from your head.  Unfortunately, they did not take with them all your troubles of life. 
Instead they  added to your worries. Being a 22 year old 
young lady, of course you would not  want to be seen bald. You know you were about to 
leave, you did not want to meet God with a bald head. We understand you would want to 
keep that pretty face of a young lady  when your loved ones visited you. Mommy put on 
your eye liners for you, for the last time. We saw you asleep in the coffin. With a smile,
we held back our tears.
Although you did not look like you at all, wearing the wig you loved,  we could somewhat 
still see that pretty face of yours.
Paul also instructed Timothy to come quickly, to see him for the last  time. Timothy was 
to bring the cloak Paul left with Carpus (2Tim 4:13). Paul was in prison, why would he 
need his cloak? The first item he asked for of Timothy, his son in the faith, was his 
cloak. That's because Paul was about to leave. He remembered his cloak, which was necessary
for the long journey before him. 
Next, Glory remembered her laptop which she loved so much, the laptop she used for her 
classes, her thesis, her communications with her  friends..... She wanted to tell me her
password. 
I comforted her, " This is not important, let's talk about this some other time!" I truly 
did not want her to go. She replied, " True, this is not important, afterall, you can 
always  find someone who would know my password." The topic of our conversation moved on 
to her diary. She did not write  much, but still it was a record of her thoughts and what 
she went through. 
"Read this together, diary on many of my unhappy days...." She wanted  us to understand 
why she's leaving us, to give her our blessings......she did not have a choice.
Paul wanted Timothy to bring his scrolls, especially the parchments.  The parchments were 
probably his precious Scriptures. The scrolls were  Paul's own writings and letters.
Paul did not leave behind a large inheritance for the church, instead  he left behind over 
10 letters, through which Christians from all  generations benefit from. Glory did not have 
such high hopes. All she wanted was for us not to misunderstand her. Through her diary, she 
wanted us to know that she  too was very weak. She was not the kind of cancer-hero people 
perceived  her to be. She had no choice. She was being put into the arena, to put on an act,  
to finish well, made as a spectacle to angels as well as to men. She did  not want to be a 
star, she yearned to be just a common folk. But the God of fate had prepared this path for 
her.
As with Moses, he was born into a common family. But he was also born  into a very special 
time in history when all Jewish baby boys must die.  Instead, he was raised under a special
circumstance, in an Egyptian palace. He had the most uncommon power, knowledge and wisdom. 
Above all, he had  a heart ready for great things. However, a common fight ended up with 
him  as a murderer. He escaped to the wilderness and lived an ordinary shepherd life for 
40 years. These 40 years shaped him to submit to the  fate of a common folk. But right 
at this moment, out of the ordinary , God chose him to head up a most extraordinary event 
in history. 
He led the  Israelites out of Egypt and became their national hero.....Was fate playing a  
trick on him?
Ordinary people dream to be someone special. Ironically those who are special yearned to 
lead an ordinary life. Why is it so? Although we know we cannot bring anything with us as 
we leave this  world, we still put all our energy into accumulating things, to the extent 
of  sacrificing our relationship with people around us, sacrificing family and children, 
sacrificing the love between husband and wife....
but when  that moment of death arrives, all the inheritance accumulated has to be  left 
behind. 
The love and relationships that could be taken with us, on the  other hand, are destroyed 
by our own hands. Glory, we are happy for you. Despite the fact that when you left, you  
had barely 15.00 in your bank account, you took with you all the relationships and love 
that money cannot buy. Over 1000 people came to see you off. Many stood for over 2 hours 
outside the auditorium, to bid you farewell. 
Glory, go in peace, we would not be upset at you.