RANDY, LARRY, AND DRY BONES THAT LIVE

      Ezekiel 37:1-10 is a great message of hope. It's an affirmation that all things are possible for God and that our "good-byes" won't be forever. It's an Easter message that we need to hear when we're watching a loved one die... or leaving a friend for what we know will be the last time. For all of us who come face-to-face with death, separation, or emptiness too deep to measure... clinging to the hope that dry bones live... is the only hope we have!
      Israel was destroyed in 597BC. The temple was plundered and thousands of Jews were taken into captivity. It was a hopeless situation, but according to Ezekiel, "the hand of the Lord" set him in the middle of a valley of dry bones. The bones were really dry and the Lord asked him if they could live. "Can these dry bones live?" he asked. I don't know, Ezekiel answered, and God told him to "prophecy" to the bones, which he did. Then "there was a rattling sound" of bones coming together. Ezekiel looked and the bones took on flesh, and when he spoke again, the breath of God entered them... and they came to life and stood on their feet as a vast army! O my, what a vision! For those of us who have walked in a valley full of dry bones, what a hope! When we held my brother's funeral in Anniston, Alabama, there was some concern that Randy didn't look like himself... but the bigger question was this: CAN HIS DRY BONES LIVE? In God's hands, can Randall Lee Shedenhelm live? This is always the question. When they took my brother, Larry, off of life-support, a deep sorrow filled the air and dry bones were all around us. Was this the end... or was it a new beginning in which Larry would be free of both cancer and death?
   Would his dry bones live? When we walk through the graveyards that dot our lives; when someone abandons us; when we see our friends die; when we're told that we have just a few months to live... we hear God whisper, "CAN THESE DRY BONES LIVE?" Well...can they? When my brother, Randy, died in '94, we had already cried most of our tears... as we watched him get thinner and weaker. Hospice watched over him and his partner was with him as he faded away. His boys stood by him, and my brother, Larry, and I did the same, but it was alway clear that there was no hope. Randy was in a valley of dry bones... but he told me that he wasn't afraid to die because he was in God's hands. Randy believed that dry bones live and this is the truth we claimed for him at his funeral. Larry was the middle brother between Randy and me, and I loved him dearly... but in the course of time, Leukemia had it's way with him. I was blessed to be with his family as he was dying and we could all see that dry bones were all around. We could see them. Larry could see them too. So we listened to "Me and Bobbi McGee" one last time and trusted that dry bones live because nothing is to hard for God.
      On Easter morning, at least one woman (the gospel accounts differ a bit) made her way to a graveyard to show her love for a man who had been crucified. She wanted to pay her respects and take care of his body. That would've been good enough for her. The women expected to prepare a dead body... and they were alarmed when they couldn't find it. They were sure that his body must have been taken because dry bones don't move on their own! Then, Mary heard his voice, "Mary, don't cling to me, but go and tell the others that I am alive. Tell them, Mary, that dry bones live!" When asked if dry bones live, Ezekiel was wisely left the matter in God's hands, but after Easter, we can lift up voices and shout, Of course they can and indeed they will. We will claim it as we live and we will go to our graves believing it! It is the greatest promise that has ever been made and we will never let go of it! My friend, Will, died several years ago and the last words he said to me were, "We will meet again." He said these words matter-of-factly, as if everyone should know that dry bones live. I have no doubts about it myself and I look forward to seeing Will and to embracing Larry and Randy! Dry bones live. Go and tell them. Tell them that it's true and that it makes all the difference in the world.