Job 20

Epitaph

There are some incredibly funny and poignant epitaphs on grave markers out there. Some of them are:

Uniontown, Pennsylvania:
Here lies the body
of Jonathan Blake
Stepped on the gas
Instead of the brake.

Silver City, Nevada, cemetery:
Here lays Butch,
We planted him raw.
He was quick on the trigger,
But slow on the draw.

In England:
Sir John Strange
Here lies an honest lawyer,
And that is Strange.

In Georgia:
“I told you I was sick!”

Hartscombe, England:
On the 22nd of June
– Jonathan Fiddle –
Went out of tune.

Ribbesford, England:
The children of Israel wanted bread
And the Lord sent them manna,
Old clerk Wallace wanted a wife,
And the Devil sent him Anna.

In the twentieth chapter of Job I couldn’t help but think that many of the verses would make great epitaphs for people you didn’t like.

• He will fade like a dream and not be found. He will vanish like a vision in the night.
• He was just a young man, but his bones will lie in the dust.
• He will vomit the wealth he swallowed. God won’t let him keep it down.
• He will suck the poison of snakes. The viper will kill him
• He was always greedy but never satisfied. Of all the things he dreamed about, nothing remains.
• The arrow is pulled from his body, and the arrowhead glistens with blood. The terrors of death are upon him.
• This is the fate that awaits the wicked. It is the inheritance decreed by God.

Somehow I can’t imagine these appearing on someone’s gravestone, but they probably should.

How will you be remembered?

Father, may I leave a legacy that will be fondly remembered. May I live my life in such a way that you will be proud. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Thomas Stagg’s epitaph in the St. Giles Churchyard, London, England says it well.

“That is all”

Jan

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