Yesterday was the day of my adopted mom's funeral. I was late getting there but thankfully not too late. Lucky for me miss Kevin from Ultimate Cremation Services of Hawaii asked Francis to hurry up when she was talking & talking & talking about how Jill loved her cats (we all knew that) & how she got her surguries postponed & other things that didn't especially seem to matter to me but I did appreciate her saying how she wished that Jill got to go to england to visit some friends or whatnot - that was more the kind of thing I was expecting her to talk about but whatever - she had to get some things off her chest so I shouldnt be so particular about how I didn't want to hear it. Newho what I was saying is that Kevin allowed me enough time to say what I had to say & didn't ask me to hurry up. I knew I had to be breif & so I was as straight to the point as possible & I rememberd to say almost everything that I had planned out to say albeit not quite in the order that I intended to say them. This is as close to what I said as I can remember:

I am sorry for being late; I will be late to my own funeral, so there was no possible way I was going to make it here on time.

For the benifit of my mom's christian friend (I nodded to francis) I will give a short sermon about how it is possible for my mom to go to heaven even though she was an aithest. I intend to be breif so let me just go to the scripture: The 1st one is 1st or 2nd Corinthians 13:5 - in 2nd Corinthians 13:5 it says "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" - that is the test of a christian - wether Jesus is in your heart. The next one is Ephesians 2...(I flipped my bible pages) "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." - now cross that over with Galatians 2:16 wich says...(I flipped my bible pages) "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of (who?) Jesus Christ..." So it is moreso God's faith in us than our faith in him wich saves us. Now the main scripture that I wanted to say was in Romans...(as I flipped my bible pages I said) The main reason I am doing this is because this is the first opprotunity to speak a whole sermon in front of my mom without her asking me to change the subject. (giggles from the audience) Here is the passage: "For as many as have sinned without law (or the gospel) shall also perish without law (or the gospel): and as many as have sinned in the law (or gospel) shall be judged by the [gospel]; (For not the hearers of the [gospel] are just before God, but the doers of the [gospel] shall be justified. For when the [non-christians], which have not the [gospel], do by nature the things contained in the [gospel], these, having not the [gospel], are a [gospel] unto themselves: Which show the work of the [gospel] written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another; ) Therefore if the [unchristianess] keep the righteousness of the [gospel], shall not his [unchristianess] be counted for [christianess]? And shall not [unchristianess] which is by nature, if it fulfil the [gospel], judge thee, who by the [bible] and [christianess] dost transgress the [gospel]? For he is not a [christian], which is one outwardly; neither is that [christianess], which is outward in the flesh: But he is a [christian], which is one inwardly; and [christianess] is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the [bible]; whose praise is not of men, but of God."

Lets be realistic though - if she didn't enjoy praising God on earth what makes us think that she will enjoy it in heaven?

I have one more thing I want to say -

I don't want to forget the lessons my mom taught me. She taught me to love others; regardless wether they are different from me in areas such as age, height, weight, gender, nationality, political affiliation, sexual orientation, or religon, or even if they have an offensive odor. She taught me to choose the unchosen, to fight for the underdog & to go for the long shot. And she taught me to not take the love that others have for me for granted.

So I want to thank you all for comming & I want to wish my mom the best afterlife or non afterlife - I hope she enjoys sitting here in this wall with her husband forever.

Slade

Slade,

I am sorry for your mother's passing. It is good that you honored your mother by being there and recognizing the good impressions she made upon you. I hope this will always be a part of your remembrance of her.

God bless you,

Chelki