Sure and certain hope

I attended a graveside service this afternoon for my cousin--comforting words spoken by my wise, good dad--and then went to a family gathering at my cousin's brother's house. (Obviously that is also a cousin.)

After I got home, I hunted up two pictures of my cousin. One is this one, taken probably in 1997 at a family reunion. On the left is my cousin, on the right is my oldest brother, who died nearly five years ago of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease).

So here are two members of my generation of my family whose earthly lives were cut short, my cousin at age 49, my brother at age 52.

Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection into eternal life