For They Shall See God

I once heard that the Hebrew word for “pure” has the same root as the word for “ready”. To be pure is in some sense to be ready. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the ready. Ready to receive from the Lord.

My friend Aaron Pomeroy died last week. But this wasn’t the first time he had died. In fact, I had the honor of being there on some of the other occasions. You see, Aaron died of laughter fairly often. What I mean to say is that if anyone could ever be described as actually dying of a case of the funnies, it was him, and on the regular. There were countless times that he had so much delight erupting out of his soul that I wondered if he would survive it (somehow he always did!). For this reason he was my very favorite person to make a pun around because he would faithfully explode in a holy mix of shock and amusement every time.

Aaron was thirty-six years old when he left this world. His Marfan syndrome finally got the best of him. Marfan’s is a ghastly thing, and for Aaron, at least in the years I was hanging out with him, it made him skinny as a rail, and I mean the really skinny kind of rail. But though his flesh (or lack thereof) was dying, Aaron’s soul ran hard the other direction. As a forgiven sinner he truly was a walking and talking picture of the profound difference between the living dead and the dead living. Or as the Lord said, Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. Aaron was skin and bones, but he was as anti-zombie as you can imagine, bringing life and humanity to everybody around him.

I was blessed to know Aaron because Aaron was a blessed man. A happy man. He was always ready for anything, especially a joke. I suspect that in his physical condition he chose to take hold of a special kind of humility. A humility that oriented his heart to Heaven in such a way that produced in him this sense of expectation, this purity. This preparedness for humor. This ear for the beats of the Father’s jovial heart.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the ready, for they will laugh at Heaven’s jokes.

I will miss Aaron. And the thing I will miss most about him is his laughter. I look forward to when I get to meet up with my friend again in the resurrection—to see him healthy and whole, clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

And ready for God knows what.