My sweet Grandmother, my Mom's Mom, lived to be 99 years, 7 months old. What a gal. As good as good gets. God gave her a long and happy life, with 7 children. Married to my Grandfather for over 55 years when he died of cancer. She was born and raised in the country. Lived on a farm all her young years and early marriage years, before they moved to the "big city" (my old hometown) which harbored a population of 20-25 thousand folks. To her that would have seemed like NY City. They lived, my Mom was born there, in the deep rural country of rural Alabama back in the teens, 20s and 30s, of the 1900s. My Grandmom was born in the 1890s. My Mom used to talk about her Mother being her best friend. Always there to talk to you. Our pastor was at our church 36 years. He called all the ladies by Miss "Sue" or Miss "June", but my Grandmother was ALWAYS, Mrs. Rogers. He would come by her house two or three times a week, just to sit with her and talk. The pastor came to her home, to be educated on being a pastor and how to work his church and deal with people. He thought the world of her. She died after he had retired. But he was the one the family asked to come and assist the new pastor in her funeral. That is the kind of lasting impression she left on people. I miss her even today, 30 some odd years later. Almost as much I miss my own Mom and Dad. But I will see her and my Mom again one day, probably soon, when the Lord calls His bride home to be with Him in Heaven. I think that day draws near, much more near than we all think. I really think that. The question really is, are YOU ready? Do YOU know HIM? Time runs short my friends. Don't let it come and go and you be left standing here wondering what just happened!! To be saved in the Tribulation period is not going to be an easy thing to do. It will cost you your head and life. The BOOK says so!!!
What follows is rather off-topic (i.e. what follows has little to do with Bob Dole's passing). And before writing what I will write I must state flat-out that I do not want to hijack this thread. It's just that your post about your Grandmother was incredibly powerful, immensely touching, profoundly pertinent. If only because each and every one of us will, whether today, tomorrow, next month, next year, or some other time in the future, cross over to the other side of Eternity.
Bob Dole has entered his rest. His race has been run. May he rest in peace.
So, because of what you shared about your maternal Grandmother, (and here comes the potentially hijacking off-topic stuff) I think you will appreciate another aspect of "the bigger picture" we Christians face from day to day. How we must work to remind ourselves that each and every individual is one of God's creatures. A creature for whom God sent his one and only Son to die. Even those individuals who treasure Earthly ideologies, rather than the Treasures of Heaven. Even those individuals who believe, articulate (okay, more often scream than articulate), and attempt to advance political viewpoints that could be characterized as abject evil.
Even those individuals who have chosen to be our enemies because they either willingly follow, or are utterly duped by, the Enemy.
Can you wrap your mind around the immensity of God's love? I can't. God has given each and every one of us humans the freedom (some might call it "the terrible freedom") to choose our own eternal damnation if that is what any one of us wants. And if that wasn't enough to cause our jaws to drop in wholesale disbelief, God exercises cosmic-level self-restraint in order for each and every one of us to enjoy (or be condemned by?) that terrible freedom.
Please don't misunderstand me. We must, I firmly believe, work diligently to defeat our political opponents, and do so in the arena of ideas. And, defeat them at the ballot box. At least until it becomes manifestly obvious that the hijinks of the November 2020 election--and all the questionable aspects of mail-in ballots, etc. which pretty much proves to thinking, honest individuals that Joe Biden did not legitimately win--become the norm for future elections.
We must utterly defeat their politics and their ideology; but we take a dangerous turn if we wish them dead. (As the old saying goes, "hate is the poison you drink expecting the other guy to die.")
Again, we must argue our passions. We must articulate our beliefs. We must tirelessly work to convince others to our points of view. But we must not harbor hate for others. And this, no matter how much we may (rightly) hate their morally bankrupt ideology, their thuggish or destructive actions/behaviors, or their horribly large lack of even the slightest shred of basic humility.
Indeed, look at what harboring such hate has done to the average radical Left-leaning individual. Some of them harbor so much hate, some of them have guzzled so many gazillion gallons of this toxin, and some of them have daily bathed in it for so long, that they have darn-near poisoned themselves down to their very souls.
All of that is just a very long-winded way of amplifying what you hint at with your observation: that even the worst criminal is still human, and has family who will certainly suffer when their loved-one is gone. We must remember that a person's actions, and even their crimes, are and remain just actions/behaviors. In short, hate the sin, love the sinner. Pray for them, even as we work to defeat their politics. If only because of the increasingly heinous Hell their own hate-filled hearts builds for them. But more because we each are commanded to do so. (Which is a good thing: on my own I would have a decidedly difficult time praying for my enemies. I dare say I'd simply not pray were it not a command.)
Again, even the worst criminal is human. Not that I considered Bob Dole of the criminal class. Even if he was part of the GOPe. That is, a member of the GOP Establishment. But Bill and Hillary Clinton, as well as Joe, Jill, Hunter, and a number of other Bidens, certainly are among the worst of criminals. They are among the worst of criminals because of the mendacity and scope of their crimes; because not a one of them will have to face any sort of "Earthly justice" any time soon (if at all); and because they brazenly flaunt their "Democrat immunity" for all to see.
Anyway, thank you for sharing what you did about your maternal Grandmother. She had to have been an amazing woman. Perhaps even as amazing as Ruth in the Old Testament, or Lydia in the New Testament. Praise God!
Thank you for reading this loquacious reply. Oh, and thank you for your 20, 30, or 40 years of service, RetiredArmy. I served for 6 years in the US Navy; I was a nuclear-trained Machinist's Mate back in the mid-to-late 1980s, prior to the first Gulf War. In short, I served my country, but served entirely in peacetime; I saw not one day of combat.
Grace and Peace to you. Cheers.