Author King Duncan tells about a young man he met in the small town of Maryville, TN.  Duncan had just finished speaking to a group on the healing power of humor. This young man came up to him to tell him about the death of his brother. 

There were three brothers in their family. The family was quite involved in this small community and so, as youngsters, these three brothers were forced to accompany their parents to the funeral home for the receiving of friends whenever someone in the community died. 

As the boys grew into their teen years, they began to develop biases about funerals.  For example, there was one floral display that all three of them detested. Anyone who has ever gone to a funeral home in the rural south may have seen this arrangement. It is a wreath with a telephone in the middle of it and a ribbon fastened across it on which is printed the words, "Jesus Called."  These three brothers disliked this particular arrangement intensely.

To make a long story short, one of these three brothers died as a young adult after a prolonged illness.  The family was devastated. He was so young and he was a fine young man.  But now it was this family's turn to receive friends at the local funeral home. 

You may have guessed it.  One of the floral arrangements that had been set up in the chapel for the receiving of friends was the one with the telephone and the ribbon with the words, "Jesus called." 

The two surviving brothers were enraged.  Who could have sent this arrangement that they so despised to their beloved brother's funeral? They quickly made their way to the arrangement to read the accompanying card. And on the card was the signature . . . of their deceased brother. He had sent the arrangement to his own funeral as one last joke on his brothers. In a flash, said this surviving brother, their tears turned to laughter.

What a gift this dying young man had given to his brothers. He had looked ahead to his journey of transition, and he had sought to make things easier for those he loved.