God's Trophy.

 

 

 Prisoner Freed, God’s Trophy.

 

 

‘Don’t you forget about me,’

 

We are gathered here to farewell, My Wife, Our Beloved and Friend and to celebrate her life briefly.

Women have shaped history with what very few dispute as rare and powerful accomplishments. Women in all aspects of life, whether in television, politics, war, science, sports, exploration, business and literature, are on the rise.

Zina in various roles during her work life was an intelligent, hard-working, powerful and warm-hearted encourager and a forward-thinking, tenacious member of the fair sex. Nothing alters, hinders nor stops her from accomplishing her goals with laughs along the way. My Darling was the first female manager of McDonalds in Victoria, and her sons also inherited this brilliant skill set. Her role in Public Relations for Maccas brought her fun-filled fame and her strikingly beautiful face graced the Airways of the USA.

 Treating everyone with respect, she exhibits the notion that all are created equal in the image of God. I am glad I had such a rich-in-love and compassionate woman in my life; I would not have been the same without her.

Through some misadventures, like the time she backed the Charger into a gaping ditch, we were stuck in the lost hillsides of Mt Dandenong. Thank God for an old guy in an even older tractor. The typhoons of life can sweep and rain compromise on our platform in this life- journey but we are not without sunshine and hope. You and I know hope is powerful. Hope about the future is perhaps the most powerful thing we have. Sometimes, it is all we have.

 In the year of 2010, global news services carried the story of the massive earthquake that struck the island of Haiti, destroying buildings and killing or maiming tens of thousands of people. Though there was much loss of life, a man by the name of Wismond Exantus was pulled from the rubble 11 days after the earthquake. Exantus told reporters from his hospital bed that he first wanted to find a church to give thanks. While awaiting rescue, he said he never stopped hoping, praying and sleeping. My Zina did not give up, either. She prayed on most occasions, which she always does before sleep.

To create a word picture in your heart and mind to explain how I feel and think, I would do that this way. If I said Checkpoint Charlie, would you know what I was referring to? Just in case, have you heard of Berlin, the city? Yes! No? Good.

Checkpoint Charlie was the most famous Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War.

 East German leader Walter Ulbricht agitated and maneuvered to construct the Berlin Wall in 1961 to stop all emigration and defection into West Berlin. More than a brain drain, people wanted out!

 Checkpoint Charlie became a symbol of Freedom during the Cold War for the citizens who hoped to travel westward to a new life and hope. So, I liken the recent but shocking events of Zina’s illness to a “Checkpoint Charlie,” representing the path of Freedom for her from her hospital bed, escaping her pain-wracked body to enter glorious Eternity.

 Many years before, as a little girl, Zina and her family escaped war-ravaged Europe to become citizens of the new hope country of Australia. There are some parallels between my and Zina’s families to elaborate here, but time does not permit. Well, WE married in 1989, two months after the Berlin Wall ended in Germany. West and East became unified.
Life journeys are full of trials, trails, love and fun, even in the very best of times and the worst.

But all of the preceding culminates in what Evangelist  Billy Graham had said concerning his own death. He said, ‘One day you will hear that Billy Graham has died. Please don’t believe it. On that day I will be more alive than I ever will be.’ ” adding because this earthly life is only the preparation for eternal life.

The same conclusion is in this fashion for My Zina, Our Beloved and Friend, who can echo that very belief for herself today.

Eternity, Tried and True.

In Eternity, soon, I’ll be with you.

Thank You, everyone.