Words to live by: ‘Flame on!’

Miracles.

“One doesn’t ask a few pennies from a multimillionaire. From such a great God one shouldn’t expect anything short of a real miracle,” author Glen Karssen wrote in “Believers: Lessons from Women of Powerful Faith.”

Life in itself is an absolute miracle. To hear a baby’s cry and the promise of their life unfolding is one of God’s best miracles. Every year that unfolds brings greater joy and a growing love for the child who is and the person they are becoming…

This time of the year, in fact the 17th of this month, one of those miracles, Samuel Cooper Jasper, my 5-year-old grandson’s life this side of heaven ended.

At that time, I made a promise to always share his last words as a reminder to live this life fully as a hallelujah to a good, good Father. Those words, Lil Cooper’s last words, were an ultimate command…“Flame On.”

Did the air suck out of our lungs only to be filled by grief’s air of heaviness, yes. Yet, there’s something living about his words, “Flame On.” They remind us of a God who is faithful, a God who is trustworthy, and a God who loved and loves little Cooper more than any of us can fathom. We do not sorrow, as those who have no hope.

Cooper’s life still speaks. His family has shared their little boy’s life and the walk through the valley of the shadow of death and how to handle grief … even while forever grieving the loss of his bright smile. They have held mourning families, loved on those who have lost and they have been God’s conduit of love’s expression… “God is close to the broken-hearted,” all because of the miracle of Cooper’s life.

A few weeks ago, our 4-year-old grandson was sitting watching a ball game. His brother was up to bat. As he innocently sat eating a snow cone he’d talked me into, a board broke and he fell backwards, 15 feet to the concrete.

The screams were deafening, and the horror was amplified when I heard the screams calling my grandson’s name, John Lowry. I could only fall to the ground in loud prayer to God. People on the fields began praying and as his dad as one nurse said, “Pete Rosed” his way to his boy, sliding in through the crowd and began praying…and life’s breath returned.

With not a broken bone, not a bruise, not a drop of blood … just a concussion requiring a couple of hospital days to make sure he was perfectly well … we saw a miracle. It was a picture of scripture … “How I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to myself.” Both boys have that in common. That’s a hallelujah, a “Flame On” reminder of a good, good Father.

I know from experience miracles defined as, “An unusual and mysterious event that is thought to have been caused by God, because it does not follow the usual laws of nature,” have occurred in our lives.

The outcome may not be what I would have chosen with lil’ Cooper, but His ways are not ours and I trust my Father. Cooper’s five years have brought the miracle of living to those in grief in ways created only by the hands of Living and Loving God. His life was and is a miracle. So, in honor of Samuel Cooper Jasper … Flame on … live the miracle of today.

This story was originally published July 16, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Words to live by: ‘Flame on!’."