Harry My Friend

My friend Harry passed away a few days ago.  His funeral was today.  This was an amazing man.  He was a very good man in so many ways.  His life was all about service.  He and his wife fostered 145 babies who were in the foster care system.  He was very knowledgeable about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He was also very intelligent.  He was a top lawyer.  He was a history buff.  He was a veteran of the US military and he was a member of the US Air Force Band.

 Harry's family includes adopted and natural born children  but they were all his kids to him.  He was an amazing disciple of Jesus Christ.  Disciple means that he was a follower of Jesus.  Harry was also a Stake Patriarch ...which means he gave special blessings to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to give us guidance in our lives.  We call those Patriarchal Blessings.

Harry at Bryce Canyon National Park

His son let me know that Harry loved Bryce Canyon National Park in Southern Utah.  I also love that park.  It is an amazing place.  I drew Harry at one of the Bryce Canyon overlooks.   The background is based on a photo I took this past May.  (The drawing is BASED on the below photo but it is nowhere near exact.) 

Bryce Canyon in May

Harry in the Spirit World

The second drawing is of Harry in Heaven or as we call this temporary place of rest, the Spirit World.  I know our Savior is welcoming him and I can picture Harry  reaching out to greet other spirits who he was able to influence in his mortal life.  This second drawing is Harry but as you can see, he does not look 80 years old.  We believe that our spirits (which live in our bodies when we are alive) most likely look quite young.  I figure our spirits look to be around 26 Earth years.  Of course we Latter Day Saints also believe that we lived before we lived on Earth.  So in reality, our spirits are most likely millions or probably billions of years old.  We came to Earth to be tested to see if we would keep God's commandments.  We believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that all of us are sons and daughters of God our Heavenly Father.  Jesus is the first born in the Spirit and the only begotten Son of God in the flesh.   So as I said, we came here to Earth to be tested.  I firmly believe that my friend Harry passed that test.