The Twins Are Separated

Daddy adjusted to life fairly well after Mama’s death.  He lived eight more years, but then he always had his twin brother, Murl for support and friendship.  The book of Proverbs talks about a friend who is closer than a brother.   There was n o friend closer to my father than his twin brother.

When you reach advanced age, it seems like you’re surrounded by people who feel like it’s their God given mission to give you advice.  That can get pretty irritating at times. Daddy appreciated Murl because he never tried to tell him what to do.  They probably argued every day they were together, but there was a bond between them that no one else understood, and the arguments didn’t amount to anything.  I guess it was recreation for the two of them.

Both of them were in declining health.  Murl began to have trouble with pneumonia, and finally was not able to recover from one of the episodes.  After he died,  I decided that I needed to go down for the funeral.  It was a really tough trip.  I left Cedar Rapids about five in the morning and drove straight through to Clyde by myself.  I had never done that before.  I arrived sometime early in the morning.  I remember waking up early the next morning with the feeling that something wasn’t right.  I soon realized what it was.  Normally when I visited my father house, my alarm clock would be an argument between Murl and my father taking place in the kitchen.  That morning things were quiet. It was unsettling.

After Murl’s funeral I gathered with my cousins and their families at the home of his daughter, Wanda.  We were sitting at the table talking about Murl.  Someone said, “If he didn’t make it to heaven, no one did because there never was a better man.”  That didn’t sound right to me, and I pondered what I might say.  I decided to say what I thought.  After all, they were family and they were required to love me regardless of what I said. 

I said, “I believe my uncle, Murl will be in heaven, but it’s not because he was a good man.”   I quickly added, “He was one of the best men I ever knew, but he wasn’t good enough to earn a place in heaven.  He’ll be in heaven because he was a child of God, because Jesus died on the cross for him, and because his sins are forgiven by the grace of God.”  Nobody challenged me.