Suren Wilson: Gone but never forgotten

It is one year since Suren went to his Eternal Rest, and is face to face with our Heavenly Father.  

He left for Jaffna the previous day, and the next morning, prior to attending to the work he had gone there to do, he called his wife in Colombo, and had his usual morning chat.  

A while later, he started working on what he had gone to do, and was standing and talking with the person who was to attend to the details of the required work.  

While standing and talking on this earth, his Heavenly Father, called him Home. He went.  

One minute he was here; the next minute, he was there!  

The most perfect way to go. As if from one room to another, with one step. What an immense blessing!  

We miss him. His embracing warmth, his irreplaceable presence, his constant companionship, and the strength that he is.  

Much as we miss him, for the son, husband, father, brother, uncle and friend that he was, we are comforted all the time by our faith, that one day, we shall all be together, again, forever, on that Golden Shore, face to face with our Heavenly Father.   

The words of Bishop Brent, which I quote, explain that faith in simple terms.  

“What is dying?”  

A ship sails, and I stand watching until she fades on the horizon… and someone at my side says, “She is gone”.  

Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all; she is just as large as when I saw her. The diminished size, and total loss of sight, is in me, not in her, and just at the moment that someone at my side says, “she is gone!”, there are others who are watching her coming, and other voices take up the glad shout, “There she comes!”.  And that, is dying.  

The hallmark of Suren’s very warm and loving personality was his ebullient laughter! Before we saw him anywhere, we would hear his inimitable laughter, from around the corner.  

When our individual ships draw close to the Golden Shore, I am certain that before we see the shore, we will hear Suren’s bubbly laughter as he waits, with our Heavenly Father, and all those who have gone before, to embracingly welcome us into our Eternal Home!  

Mahen (Machang) Fernando