“Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;” Romans 12:10

A few years ago our youngest daughter Danielle was placed as a park ranger for a time at the “Abe Lincoln Homeplace” in Springfield, Illinois. While visiting for a few days, my wife and I decided to see a few of the sights. One sight I wanted to visit, but ran out of time, was “The Museum of Funeral Customs.” Now some of you are thinking, “That’s morbid!” But as a pastor, funerals are in my line of work. There are differences between different parts of the country and different cultures. Even in east Tennessee, 90% of the funerals are at night, while it is almost unheard of to have a night funeral in middle Tennessee. Take time to read and think about the following conversation.

A minister and a funeral director were discussing funerals, funeral messages, and funeral customs. The funeral director had attended thousands of funerals. Some were long. Some were short. Sometimes the remarks were appropriate and at other times they were extremely inappropriate. Sometimes only one minister spoke and at other times there were three or four.

Jokingly, the funeral director said, “I am going to have 10 preachers at my funeral. There will be a fund set up and the one who says the greatest number of nice things about me will get $1,000.”

We would all like nice things said about us after we die, but wouldn’t it be more appropriate, and would we not enjoy it, if people said nice things about us while we are still living. “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.” Most everyone has heard it said at one time or another, “Give me roses while I am alive, not after I’m dead.”

From,  Bro. Larry