My Grandpa

This week I have the privilege of  staying at my grandma’s house and looking after her while my mum is overseas. For those who don’t know, my grandma’s place is in my parent’s backyard – so we grew up with Grandma and Grandpa almost as second parents.

I am currently sitting at my grandpa’s desk. It is a very strange experience. I’ve never sat here before, ‘cause this was grandpa’s chair. I remember him sitting on this chair in his study when I was a little girl, and I was allowed to play with his orange sticky tape dispenser – it was such fun! I can actually see it from where I am sitting. Grandpa’s rulers are lined up neatly on the desk in front of me, the pens are all in their place. Grandpa’s fluro study light is here waiting to be used. There are little spirax notebooks in a pile, the one’s that grandpa always kept in his pocket and wrote everything in. Grandpa’s beautiful old briefcase is sitting at my feet with his initials ‘A.G.J.’ stamped in it. The room smells just like grandpa, and it smells wonderful. I keep expecting him to come in and check on me, even at this late hour. I can hear him saying ‘Everything alright, love? Can I get you anything?’

But grandpa isn’t going to walk in the door. He won’t sit at this desk and write cards in his beautiful handwriting. Grandpa went to be with his God in June this year. And there is no place that he would rather be.

Sitting right next to me on the bookshelf, face up, is one of grandpa’s books titled ‘Notes on the Pentateuch: Genesis to Deuteronomy’. It is one of the only books left on the shelf. And it is evoking such an emotional response from me. I sat at this desk to study for my yearly college exams. But I can’t start. I can’t stop looking at the book. My book remains closed. Because I sat down to study Deuteronomy.

I wish he was here. I wish I could talk to him about my college work and ask him questions. He also used to lecture on Isaiah and 1 and 2 Samuel, the other two books I have to study for my exam. He would have loved to sit down and talk with me.

This desk has seen many years of Bible study, with grandpa pouring over commentaries with his well-worn Bible open beside him. As I sit here it seems somewhat symbolic of what he has left behind – people who love and serve the same God he did for so many years. And a grandchild, who is pouring over the same wonderful books of the Bible that he spent hours in.

I hope and pray that at the end of my life, whenever it may be, I will have been as faithful as grandpa. I hope I never loose the joy of reading the Bible’s familiar words. I hope I always want to learn more about God and what He has done for me. And, as small as it may seem, I hope when I see grandpa in heaven that he is proud of me. I can’t wait to see him again to say thank you.