Well done

The View From Above: Thoughts to Help With Everyday Life

August 31, 2026

Pastor Paul Stephens

“WELL DONE”!

‘WELL DONE’!

That is what every born-again believer in Jesus Christ who lives faithfully for His glory is going to hear when we pass from this life.

Israel Sarabia went to be with Jesus yesterday morning. He is my son-in-law’s father and my grandchildren’s grandfather.

What a life he lived.

A sinner, saved by grace, and what a sinner he was. He had lived a very destructive, chaotic life for years, filled with drugs, drug houses, alcohol…tormenting his family and all those close to him. Obviously on a fast track to eternity separated from God.

There were times I thought, that’s it! This is over, his wife Grace is going to leave him, and this isn’t going to end well.

However, she and his family and our church never gave up on God’s love, mercy, and grace touching his life.

Then, by a miracle of God’s love…around 2011, he repented of his sins, experienced deliverance, and was transformed in the way that only Jesus can transform a person.

2 Corinthians 5:17

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

He was supernaturally changed, born-again…set free, and made whole.

It was quite a miracle to behold.

He became a new man in Christ Jesus. We have so enjoyed Israel Sarabia ever since. He became faithful to his Lord, faithful to his family, and church.

What a delight it was for all of us to experience his salvation and the change that Jesus wrought.

In his latter few years (he turned 80 recently), he became very ill. His body began to deteriorate, wheelchair-bound…had difficulty with all the normal features of life that healthy people take for granted.

He had to have a live-in nurse to help Grace care for him. He lost his ability to speak in anything above a whisper. We could barely hear him talk…but his life and his love for Jesus, his family, and the brethren at church spoke loudly.

It was an ordeal for him to come to church, but there he was every Sunday morning!

He had to be helped getting out of bed, into his wheelchair, into the car…out of the car, back into his wheelchair, and into the service.

Very hard work…but he made the monumental effort because he wanted to be in the House of God among brethren, worshiping and hearing the Word preached.

What an inspiration he was to all of us, faithful and demonstrating his love for Jesus to the end.

The end came yesterday, Sunday morning, but we all know it’s not an end but a brand new and glorious beginning.

Israel Sarabia left his earthly body and landed in the arms of Jesus.

What glory to behold, what majesty to realize…Israel, no longer trapped in a deteriorating body but now in possession of his heavenly, eternal body.

We are sad, we are grieving along with his wife and family…but, we also are overjoyed for Israel Sarabia who is home with Jesus for eternity and waiting for the arrival of us all.

Thank you, Israel…thank you for your love, your faithfulness, the wonder of your salvation, thank you for so much more that I don’t have words for.

Thank you, my brother, and ‘WELL DONE’!

2 Corinthians 5:8

“We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

Revelation 1:5–6

“…To Jesus Christ who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”