...the LORD gave and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. -Job 1:21b
I put fresh sheets on the bed yesterday.
I cannot help but think of my wife whenever I do this and her delight in such a simple task and always (really, ALWAYS) exclaiming, "Clean sheets, Junior!"
I cannot see her face in my mind.
But there are pictures, many pictures. And memories so vivid of acts of kindness and loving care. And laughter.
Small things, you might say, but precious things that bear me up throughout the days.
And hope.
How do people do it, I often wonder, who have no hope of the resurrection? What good are the memories of good times past without the sure and certain promise of the life to come?
I cannot "only imagine."
But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.
We shall meet again.
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Monday, April 1, 2019
Signposts on the Road to Salvation: Friendship
...and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.-Proverbs 18:24b
"There's no explaining the chemistry between two people," I heard a man speak concerning a nearly 60 year friendship.
I met Frank Dalton in the early '90's. We worked together, then lost track of each other until around 2000, when he came to work where I was.
And the talks began. Peace talks, as it turns out.
But not peace between Frank and I. There was already that, though he laughingly informed me that I was the same age as his dad.
This would be a peace of a different kind and, early on, he offered to share it with me.
It seems odd, doesn't it, that we can tell (for the most part) those who don't possess that peace. I long now, as he did then, to share that peace with beloved family and friends.
Knowing what peace consists of, he began to invite me to his church. And I would offer some excuse. And he would smile and continue the conversation, never forgetting, on another day, to extend the invitation once again. And so it went.
The rest of the story is for later, since all this seemed to occur in stages, first one step, then another.
Some things never change however, and now I am the same age as the granddads of the friends where I work.
And I seek to share the peace that has been given to me.
"There's no explaining the chemistry between two people," I heard a man speak concerning a nearly 60 year friendship.
I met Frank Dalton in the early '90's. We worked together, then lost track of each other until around 2000, when he came to work where I was.
And the talks began. Peace talks, as it turns out.
But not peace between Frank and I. There was already that, though he laughingly informed me that I was the same age as his dad.
This would be a peace of a different kind and, early on, he offered to share it with me.
It seems odd, doesn't it, that we can tell (for the most part) those who don't possess that peace. I long now, as he did then, to share that peace with beloved family and friends.
Knowing what peace consists of, he began to invite me to his church. And I would offer some excuse. And he would smile and continue the conversation, never forgetting, on another day, to extend the invitation once again. And so it went.
The rest of the story is for later, since all this seemed to occur in stages, first one step, then another.
Some things never change however, and now I am the same age as the granddads of the friends where I work.
And I seek to share the peace that has been given to me.
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