There Is Another Shore
By Pastor Justin Cooper
I want to tell you about Miss Rebecca Richards.
For 28 years, Miss Richards poured herself into Gospel Light Christian School. Twelve years teaching elementary school. Fifteen years as principal. And her final year as director of our Enrichment Center — the same center where she wrote up every single student with nothing but glowing progress notes, as if each one was the next Albert Einstein. She also served as pianist for Brother Frank's Sunday school class and for our Spanish church. She called the students at GLCS "my kids." And she meant it — every one of them.
Her favorite time of the school year was March — missions month. She would light up planning fundraisers for missionaries, excited to get her kids involved in something bigger than themselves. That was Miss Richards. Servant to God. Servant to others. Prayer warrior. Wise and kind to the end.
About two weeks before she passed, she came into my office and handed me a stack of papers — her plans for the Enrichment Center students, reports on every child, ideas for the year ahead. She was already thinking about the future. Already pouring herself out.
The last Sunday I saw her, she was at the piano in our Spanish ministry. She looked up, caught my eye, and said two words.
"Hi Pastor."
That was it. The last thing she said to me in this life.
But I know what the next thing she'll say to me is.
Hi Pastor.
On the other shore.
That is the hope I want you to hold on to today. Because Acts chapter 20 is not only a story of grief — it is a story of hope. When Paul boarded that ship and the Ephesian elders stood on the shore and watched him disappear into the horizon, they wept. They held on to him. The Bible says they sorrowed because they would see his face no more.
But Paul himself had written them a letter — and in it, he told them that God had saved them, raised them up together, and made them sit together in heavenly places. Together. That word is in there for a reason.
"There's a sorrowful shore, but there is a beautiful shore. There's a tearful shore, but there's a tearless shore. There's a parting shore, but there's a reuniting shore."
Pastor Justin Cooper
Gospel Light Baptist Church
This life — with all its goodbyes, its grief, its finality — is not the last word. If you and I are in Christ, the parting shore is real, but temporary. The reuniting shore is coming, and it is permanent.
"That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus."
— Ephesians 2:7
The "ages to come." There is a future that stretches beyond anything this life can take from you. The grave is not the end of the story for a child of God.
So here is the question I want to leave with you: How does that change the way you live today?
Not just "cherish the moment" — that is the call from yesterday's devotional. Today the call is deeper. If this shore is temporary and the next one is eternal, then are you living for the right one? Are you storing up what will last, or what will be left on the dock when the ship pulls away?
If you are not born again, I want to say this plainly and with all the love I have: you don't know if today is your last day. The most urgent thing you could do right now is make sure you know where you stand with God. Not religion. Not church attendance. A personal, saving faith in Jesus Christ.
And if you are saved — live like it. Love people. Forgive quickly. Don't carry bitterness. Give your time to the things that will matter on the other side of this life.
This shore is not the end.
There is another shore.
And on that shore, every goodbye becomes a hello.
Declare this aloud today:
Lord, I am walking toward a shore. I don't know when I'll reach it. But I trust that You are on the other side — and that those who have gone before me in faith are waiting there too. Help me today to live for eternity, not just for the moment. Help me to love what You love, give what You've given me freely, and hold this life with an open hand. I believe in the shore that has no end. Amen.
Reflection Question
Is there someone in your life — living or gone — whose memory calls you to live better, love more freely, or let go of something you've been holding? What is one step you could take today toward the shore that really matters?
Gospel Light Baptist Church | Walkertown, NC
