 Mark chapter 16. I'll begin reading to you at verse one. I'll read verses one through eight and letting you know that I'm actually supplying and we'll be supplying in our study as we're moving to finish our study in Mark. I'm actually moving into other gospels to show you some of the things that are not necessarily mentioned here. I'll be doing more of it as we go through and move towards conclusion of our study of Mark. And you'll notice that, especially in the next studies beyond this one. Without said, I'll begin reading here at verse one. Mark chapter 16. I'll read to verse eight and we'll get into our study. Mark chapter 16, beginning at verse one, reading to verse eight. Mark writes, now when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Madeleine, Mary the mother of James and Salome, bought spices that they might come and anoint him. Very early in the morning on the first day of the week they came to the tomb when the sun had risen and they said among themselves, who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us? But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away for it was very large. Entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side and they were alarmed, but he said to them, do not be alarmed, you seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He's risen. He's not here. See the place where they laid him. But go tell his disciples and Peter that he's going before you into Galilee. There you will see him as he said to you. So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb for they trembled and were amazed and they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid. So let me give you a few of the things that we've seen transpire up to this point. Let me give you a review and then we'll move into the passage and let me remind you as we begin that Jesus has been crucified. Jesus has died. His lifeless body was on the cross. His men had forsaken him and fled and they went into hiding for for fear. John's the only one of the apostles to have been present at the cross and so he and Mary the mother of Jesus and a few other women who followed him while they were there. Luke tells us in chapter 23 verse 49 all his acquaintances and the women who followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things. So they saw him suffer. They heard the taunts of the crowd. They heard him as he spoke and they watched him as he died. They were there. They experienced the hours of darkness. They shook with the earthquake and they heard him when he spoke. They heard him say it is finished and then they heard him say father into thy hands. I commit my spirit. They heard the centurion say truly this man was the son of God. You see when Jesus died, some in the crowd were moved by his death. Luke tells us in chapter 23 verse 48 all the crowds that had gathered for this spectacle when they saw what had taken place went home striking their chests. Two thieves were there. They were crucified beside him. But these two thieves as we saw last time were still alive. It was surprising because Jesus had died so quickly because most prisoners would remain alive for at least two days, sometimes up to a week. Jesus was on the cross for nine hours and he had died. And the fact that he had died so quickly amazed the Roman governor Pontius Pilate and he needed proof. So he sent to the centurion who had been there in observation of the crucifixion and spoke to him and the centurion assured him Jesus was dead. Well, Jesus may have been already dead, but the other men had remained alive. The Sabbath is now approaching and so to hasten their death, their shins were broken with an iron hammer. When the soldiers had come to break Jesus' legs, well, they saw that he was already dead and that fulfilled two prophecies. Not one of his bones shall be broken and they shall look upon him whom they pierced. Now John and the women who were there would have been in stunned silence. They saw the light of the world extinguished and the truth had been silenced. As far as they could see, death was victorious and life was defeated. All they could see was a lifeless body, a body that deserved a proper burial. The faith was gone, the hope was shattered, love had lost its meaning. Jesus was dead. There was a rich man by the name of Joseph of Arimathea and he had gone to Pilate. He had requested the body of Jesus Christ. He and another man by the name of Nicodemus were what you call secret followers of Jesus, but not anymore. You see, normally family members would claim the body of the deceased. Joseph was not a family member, but because he was wealthy and well known, that gave him access to Pilate and he got the needed permission. So by doing this, Joseph had placed himself in danger, but he did it anyway. So both he and Nicodemus and other secret disciples had placed Jesus in a tomb. Now as Jesus' body had been taken down, the women had noted where he was buried. Joseph and Nicodemus had given him a king's burial, but it wasn't enough. In Luke 23 verse 56, it says that the women returned to prepare spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. So the Sabbath has been observed and they're preparing to return to the tomb. Now they had forgotten something. They had forgotten that Jesus repeatedly had taught them that he would rise again from the dead. One of those statements is found in Mark 8.31 where it says, He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes. Be killed and after three days rise again. So as this is taking place, Matthew gives us some details. In Matthew 27 verses 62 through 66, Matthew writes the next day, the one after preparation day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to pilot. Sir, they said, we remember that while he was alive, that deceiver said after three days I will rise again. So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he had been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first. You have a guard pilot said, go make the tomb as secure as you know how. So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone, posting a guard. So as the Sabbath, the Pharisees are supposed to be resting, but instead they take time to go to pilot. Now it's interesting to note that they remembered what Jesus said, but his disciples had not. Though Jesus had died, these people still feared his influence. So they asked for a Roman guard to prevent Jesus' body from being removed and pilot granted them that guard. So they made the tomb secure with a seal. That word seal is a cord that is covered with wax, preventing the stone from being moved unnoticed. And the fact that the stone was moved and that seal had been broken is more evidence of his resurrection. And so that's what's taking place here as we pick up our story. So let's begin at verse one. When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Madeleine, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices that they might come and anoint him. So as we begin, we need to consider what Jesus' disciples have been through. They were traumatized by his death. Jesus had suffered on a cross. He had been crucified and it left his followers confused and even afraid. When Jesus had been taken there in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Bible tells us his men had forsaken him and fled. Some had gone into hiding in fear that they would be pursued and killed. In John 20, verse 19, he says the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, for fear of the Jewish authorities. Now nowhere does Scripture indicate that they were in any danger. The simple fact is they believed that they were. The Jewish authorities had procured Jesus' death and because they had, his men thought that they too were in danger. And so it was fear that was driving them and in that fear driving them, they secured for themselves a room in their confusion and in their pain. They had forgotten what Jesus had done in the past. They had forgotten how Jesus had protected them. Remember when he was arrested in the Garden? Jesus had spoken out for them. John tells us in his Gospel, chapter 18, verses 8 and 9, that Jesus answered, I have told you I am he. Therefore if you seek me, let these go their way, that the same might be fulfilled which he spoke, of those whom you gave me, I have lost none. Now in the midst of this, they didn't understand what he was saying. Now I want to develop this for just a moment. That's how many spiritual lessons are learned. We learn our lessons often after the fact. Even though we've been prepared, if you've spent any time in the Word, if you read the Bible, if you've studied through the Gospels, God is preparing us. He does so as we read through the Word of God. And so as you read, God is speaking to us and preparing us. And in their lives, they had actually had the Word of God incarnate. Jesus was the one who was the one who was the one who was the one who was the one who was the one who was the one who was the one who was the one who was the one. Jesus Christ himself, who was speaking to them and ministering to them the things of the Spirit. But they didn't listen that very carefully. They didn't grasp it. It was before the Holy Spirit had come to fill them with more understanding and all of that. And so he's teaching them these things, but they're not necessarily grasping them. For example, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, Lazarus' sisters were devastated. When Jesus arrived in the city of Bethany where they lived, the oldest sister, a woman by the name of Martha, had gone out to meet him. And she told Jesus, she said to him, if you would have been here, my brother Lazarus would not have died. And in that conversation, you see it in John chapter 11, in that conversation Jesus told her, your brother will rise again. But Martha said, yes, I'm sure he's going to rise again in the resurrection of the last day. And when Jesus heard that, he responded. He said, I am the resurrection in the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And he who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? To this Martha replied, Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who has come into the world. I am the resurrection. Jesus said, I am the life. He who believes in me will never die. But then he asked that question, and that's a question he could ask of us even in our day. Do you believe this? Do you believe this? Martha, to her credit, said, Yes, Lord, I do believe. Well, Jesus was taken to his tomb, to Lazarus' tomb, and he stood outside of it. And I believe it's the shortest verse in the New Testament where it simply says, he wept. And the people saw Jesus as he was weeping, and it provoked them. And they spoke concerning that. They said, Behold how he loved him. And Jesus at that time groans. And he said, Take away the stone, but Martha resisted. She said, He's been dead for four days. By this time, there's a stench. And then Jesus in John 1140 said to her, Did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God? Seeing is not believing. Believing is seeing. Many spiritual lessons are learned later. We've heard what he said. We've believed to a degree what he has said. And then he fulfills his promise, giving us not only intellectual knowledge, but experiential knowledge, so we can say, I know that I know, that I know. My God is able. Jesus promised that he would rise from the dead, but they had forgotten. So it's now early Sunday morning, and various women have come to the tomb, bringing spices to anoint his body. To anoint his body, Mary Madeline, Mary the mother of James the last, one of the apostles who was the son of Alpheus, Salome, who was the mother of James and John, a woman by the name of Joanna, and other women are there. And they've come to finish the proper burial rites for Jesus. They had followed Joseph and Nicodemus to know where the body had been buried. Joseph and Nicodemus had hastily prepared Jesus' body for burial, and these women came to finish the procedure. They wanted to anoint the body of Jesus even further. You see, the Jewish people didn't embalm bodies, they anointed them, and that was to offset the smell of decay and was an act of love and honor for Jesus. Three days before Jesus had been crucified, they witnessed his death. So they came early. They came to a tomb expecting to find a body so they could properly bury him. That's what it means in verse one when it says that they might come and anoint him. That's another evidence, by the way, that his death and burial wasn't a hoax. He didn't fake his death to deceive people into believing he had risen. He didn't faint and then come to. He didn't pretend to be dead and roll away the stone. The Bible says it. Very plainly, he died. They're coming to the tomb to finish his anointing and speaks loudly of this. Now Joseph and Nicodemus had taken Jesus' body and they had anointed it extravagantly, but the women arrived and they want to give him more honor. So they finished, they come to finish the anointing. Notice in verse two how it says very early in the morning on the first day of the week, they came. So they arrived early Sunday morning at dawn. It was still dark. The sun was just coming up. And they're expecting to find a body in a tomb. Again, that reveals they hadn't listened closely and understood what he had said. Throughout his ministry, Christ had prepared his disciples for this day. He knew they'd be overwhelmed with what they were going to go through. He taught them that he would die, but he also taught them that he would be resurrected. And he wanted them to know that death didn't have the final say. Death didn't have final victory. Though he would surely die, he would be raised from the dead. But the message was too deep for them and that's understandable in all human experience. Death is absolutely final. Job in the book of Job in chapter 14 verses one and two says, man who was born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away. He flees like a shadow and does not continue. There are a few things that speak with the authority and finality of death in a funeral. There's something about attending a funeral that sobers your heart. Funerals cause us to consider life's brevity and the inevitability of death. They have a powerful effect on us and they awaken us. Solomon said that in Ecclesiastes 7 verse 2. He said it like this, better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men and the living will take it to heart. It's better to go to a funeral, he said, than to a party. When you go to a funeral, he was saying, there's a sobriety. There's an awakening. It brings us into an awareness, an awareness that death comes upon all of us. It's appointed unto men to die but once, scripture says, and after this judgment. Jesus had prepared them but the resurrection was for them a distant promise. They didn't really understand it. They didn't understand what he meant. You see, in the Old Testament, the Old Testament did speak of it but it wasn't something well developed. Job 19 verses 25 through 27 says it like this, I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end, he will stand on the earth and after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. I myself will see him with my own eyes. I and not another, how my heart yearns within me. Psalm 16 verse 10 says, you will not leave my soul in shield nor will you allow your holy one to seek corruption. Isaiah 26 19 says, your dead shall live together with my dead body. They shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust, for your dew is like the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead. And finally Daniel 12 verses 2 and 3, many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. Some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament and those who turn many to righteousness like stars forever and ever. They were yet to understand that Jesus is the resurrection in the life and though understandable their actions revealed doubt not faith. In God over 30 years ago, over 30 years ago, here in this campus had a Sunday night. No, that's not true. It wasn't in this campus. It was in Ontario. We had a Sunday night service. I gave an invitation and a young woman came forward and gave her heart to the Lord. She was the only one who came forward that night. And I prayed with her and she got saved. Her husband was unsaved and she went home shared with him what she had done. She had gone to church. She gave her heart to Christ. About three weeks or so later, her husband came and she had a friend who was going to this fellowship at that time. And so she and her friend and her husband were in the evening service. And again, I gave an invitation, an open invitation. And that night this young man came forward and gave his heart to the Lord. He eventually got involved here. He started serving. And as he served, he began to work with the children in the children's ministry. The kids in the ministry at that time, and we're talking over 30 years ago now, he would give them all nicknames. Every one of them had little nicknames. When he met them, he'd call them by that new name they gave them. He had given them. And he endeared himself to them and they loved him. And I began to hear of this man that he was doing well. And so I got to know him. And eventually what happened is I put him on staff. And he was on our staff for a number of years working with the children's ministry. And then one day, I just, it was just time, I said, you know, I want to put a church in the city of Ontario. And so I sent him to do a work in Ontario. His name's Mike Urcioli. And Mike went and planted a church. And some of the people who were from our fellowship went there and they laid the foundation. And Mike has been there for many years. And so he would come and meet with me. I meet with pastors, a number of pastors every month or two. And he was one of the men who would come and meet with us. We'd have lunch, talk, share, and I'd answer questions from the pastors and all. And so he and I have been friends for many years. For many years. He went with us to Israel and with his wife and he was planning on going with us, I believe this time, but he was unable to because a couple of years ago Mike was in my meeting and he spoke to me and he said, Pastor, I need to let you know that I've been diagnosed with cancer. And so he says, but we have hope and we feel the Lord will be involved in it. And we're looking for him to bring healing. And he began to go through, you know, chemotherapy and the various types of medical procedures to try and prevent the spread. But it continued to spread. And so about three weeks ago, Dave Bustamante and I went to go see him and to pray for him. And he couldn't speak is he could speak with the very softly because the cancer had gone through his body and was affecting his vocal cords. And so I was there and spent some time with him. And again, he's very dear to me and prayed for him and prayed for his wife, Terry. And and so the Lord put it on my heart to go see him yesterday. And so I went to his house and he was no longer responsive. He's just laying on his side and he had lost so much weight and Marie, my wife and I walked in and and with Terry and and I prayed for him one last time because Mike, Mike went home last night at 8 30. In ministry you have opportunity to sometimes be the last person somebody sees to offer last prayers before somebody enters into the presence of the Lord. We had a brother in our fellowship. Some of you may remember him or his name. His name was Frank Pastore. Frank was a very popular radio host on KKLA answered questions. Frank had been part of our church for over 25 years. He's very dear to us, Frank and Gina. On a Friday, my wife, Marie and I went out for lunch with Frank and Gina. And Marie told Frank, you know, Frank, I get concerned for you right in and that motorcycle has so many crazy drivers. And Frank had said, well, you know, either I die on a motorcycle or I just die somewhere else. Marie, I'm going to die. And he that was the way he is. So I slapped him. I said, don't talk to my wife that way. No, I he was right. But the next week, the next Monday, he was riding his motorcycle. He got hit by a car and he went into a coma. And again, I went to go see him. He had been transferred from a hospital in the LA area and came to a hospital here in Upland. And so again, Dave boosted the mountain. I went and we went and saw Frank. He was had been in a coma for some time. And as I was standing there and he was hooked up and all of this to the monitors and various things, I put my hand on my friend's shoulders and his shoulder and I prayed. And in my prayer, I said, Father, you are a wonder working God, you're able to heal Lord Jesus. And in your name, heal our friend Frank. And if not, Lord, may you take him to be in your presence. And as I was praying, an alarm went off. And then we heard it was code blue. And his alarm on his apparatus that they had him hooked to hits, he flatlined right in front of me. Right after I had prayed, Lord, take him home. And a nurses came in, one of them was from our church and they said, Pastor, would you wait in the hallway and we'll let you know. And we just stood there. And then within a few minutes, they came out and they said, we're sorry. But your friend is no longer with us. Then I had to minister to my dear friend Gina and talked to her and shared with her and broke the news with her. We've seen this more than once. When my father-in-law went home to be with the Lord, I was there at the bedside in the same room almost two years to the day in the same ICU unit in Chino Hospital. He was in this one bed. My father had passed on in a bed that was actually two beds away. So as I was there with my father-in-law and my brothers-in-law and all, I could see the bed my father had died on. And I was there with him and I still remember seeing that line as it flattened. And I put my hand on his head and I said to him, I want to tell you something I never said out loud. I want you to know I love you. And I said, thank you for the way you raised your daughter Marie. She's been an amazing wife. And a few days later, we buried him. I was in a hospital to visit somebody from our fellowship and John will remember this very well. I mentioned it first service. He remembers this. I was there to see somebody else, but John came walking around the corner as I was walking towards this other room. And he was broken and he was weeping because Rene, his sister, his sister had just died. Just died. And so I remember holding John at my arms. I've known John since he was a little boy. He used to do a Bible study at his house. His mother made our wedding cake for us. That's how far back we go. And I held him in my arms as he wept on my shoulders. We had a young man in our fellowship named Marcel. Marcel was like a son to me and he had cancer. And I used to teach out of the other chapel and I have an office that was back there and Marcel because he was taking various medications all he couldn't be in church services, but he had cancer and he would sit with me during the church services and I would visit with him. I'd known him since he was a little boy. And then I performed his wedding for him. I performed Marcel's wedding with a young lady in our fellowship and three months later I buried Marcel. I was called by his mom the day he died. We went into the room at a little house that he rented and Marcel was there in the room and I'll never forget how touching it was because they had had to prepare his body had passed on and they opened up the window was a very cold night and and his mama was next to us and she said oh it's cold in here and she put the blanket over him. But he's already gone. Never feel guilty for grieving. One of the worst things that happen sometimes in Christian life is you go through pain and somebody's there looking at you saying what kind of Christian are you to grieve the way you do? The deeper you love the deeper you grieve even though we know I am the resurrection in the life Jesus said even you know that he who believes in me though he should die yet shall he live and then he says do you believe this? See there are many Christians who have never experienced that so what they do is they sometimes treat you as if you have no faith and they have the greater amount they haven't lost anybody yet. They haven't been there at a bedside watching your father die watching your father in law die watching your friend die I don't blame these women what they were doing was out of love but it was misunderstood Jesus said I will rise again but they didn't understand they knew nothing of it the scriptures in the Old Testament said this will happen Jesus said I will but in the midst of grief there are times that you forget it's that it's not that you don't believe you do believe but your faith is called into question perhaps some of you know what I'm trying to say in my ministry over all these years I had opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to minister to the grieving and to grieve myself when my father passed on when he went to heaven my dad used to say to me when I was a little boy he used to say and I've said this before I've told this story some of you are familiar with it but my dad used to say to me I'm Superman and I believed he was why wouldn't I now he said that to me because there used to be a television program called Superman and I would watch it when it was on and my mom would tell my dad your son really loves Superman so my dad got jealous so he started telling me well David just you need to know this is my secret but I'll tell you you're my son I'm Superman I believed it now I knew Superman was from Krypton he was tall white my dad was a short Mexican it never made sense to me he doesn't have this little pencil mustache like you dad but I believed it and then one day I a little older I said to him if you're Superman I want to see your uniform where's your Superman uniform with the tights in the little robe where are they he said I have them they're inside the garage in the rafters son I said okay daddy went to work I was about six years old I climbed up into the rafters looked for it couldn't find it climbed on top of the of the garage looked in the ivy no uniform I came down and I waited and when my dad got home he pulled it a little truck up and I waited he walked in and I yelled out you're not Superman he goes what are you talking about you're not Superman what do you mean I I looked in the rafters I even climbed on top of the uh the garage I looked in the bushes you're not Superman and he goes to me son my uniforms in the cleaners and I said well that makes sense it gets dirty I'm so so I kept that as a little treasured memory of my dad's silliness my daddy had a silly sense of humor well when papa when my daddy died I was outside and my son David walked up to me 22 years ago now and I was in the parking lot and he walked up with this he loved his his grandfather and he said to me daddy Superman died Superman died and that struck me my father was a liar you lied to me and my sons it's a generational lie we grieve more because we love more the deeper you love in Christ the deeper the pain at the loss it's not a lack of faith always sometimes it just hurts it just hurts they didn't know what resurrection was yet they'd been taught he had mentioned it said it said it he stated it clearly several times but they still didn't understand this is something that's never happened before yes we have seen the widow of nane's son and jeres's daughter and lazars yes they were dead came back to life but you you are life itself how is it possible now this isn't really an act of faith on their part it's an act of love but it's really doubt they didn't understand that Jesus is the resurrection they had actually been instructed to have joy john 14 28 you have heard me say to you I am going away and coming back to you if you loved me you would rejoice because I said I'm going to the father for my father's greater than I so they're there verse three and they're saying who's going to roll away the stone this stone was in the shape of a wheel it's on an incline they would roll the stone down the incline it would lodge in a groove that had been cut out of the rock it weighed between one and a half to two tons impossible for these women to roll it up this steep incline and their unbelief provoked them to create a need that was impossible to meet well the bible says in verse four when they looked up they saw that the stone had been rolled away their concern had been answered their need had been met they needed no one to roll away the stone because God had opened up the tomb Matthew 28 verses two through four is behold there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it his countenance was like lightning his clothing as white as snow the guards shook for fear of him became like dead men the guards experienced the earthquake but they have an even greater one inside now Jesus didn't need to move the stone he could pass through it John 20 verse 19 I already mentioned this verse but it says the same day at evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews Jesus came and stood in the midst and said peace be with you so he didn't need that stone to be rolled away for him to go through it so it wasn't done that stone was not removed to allow Jesus out it was removed to allow us in it says in verse five entering the tomb they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side and they were alarmed but he said to them do not be alarmed you seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified he's risen he's not here see the place where they laid him this is the angel that Matthew had mentioned in the bible they often appear in human form Luke 24 verse 4 informs us there were actually two of them and verse 5 in Luke 24 says as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth they said to them why do you seek the living among the dead the Lord they had come to honor as dead was actually very much alive and he's saying why are you seeking life in a place where only death is it's useless to seek life in dead rituals in dead works or dead institutions we seek life in the living one Jesus Christ in Revelation 118 he says i am the living one i was dead and now look i'm alive forever and ever i hold the keys of death in Hades in verse 5 he says don't be alarmed you you seek Jesus of Nazareth fear fear not in other words calm down because they're startled he's risen verse 6 he's not here see the place where they laid him you've come to the right tomb that Jesus is no longer here the place he had been laid to rest is now empty and then he says go in verse 7 tell the disciples in Peter they're just going before you into Galilee even though Peter had denied the Lord Jesus was calling not only the others who have fled but Peter also he needed comfort remember he's the one who said i will never deny you so the words especially including Peter were intended to communicate grace to the heart of the apostle we're going to look at that in detail in future studies here but what does it say finally in verse 8 they went out quickly fled from the tomb they trembled were amazed they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid at first they did not speak they were so afraid ultimately they did they went and spoke to the apostles and ultimately when the apostles awoke to what was happening and what had happened the apostles by their writings told us he's alive he ever lives my friend Mike Urcioli is beholding the face of the one that he worshiped and loved and was so faithful to and yes for me as a friend of many many years my heart is sad it's sad when Terry his wife called me last night and said pastor i need to tell you Mike has died and all i could do was tell her i'm so sorry i'm sorry for your loss but our loss is heaven's gain because he's beholding the face of the one that he was so faithful to share with others and i do grieve i do grieve but not as those who have no hope because i worship the living savior jesus christ who ever lives and so he is my friend is he's not really gone he's just moved to a better place please pray for his family pray for his wife of many years his children and all of us who knew him well keep us all in prayer because it does hurt to lose a friend but then again if you believe in me jesus said you'll never die and then he closes do you believe this and i say yes lord i believe