As I am sitting here this lazy Sunday afternoon, I got to thinking of this past week and what unfolded.  I just returned a couple of days ago from a trip to Northern Kentucky.  Not a trip that you really ever want to make.  To say goodbye to a loved one…..

My Aunt Doris Caddell had been fighting Dementia for some time now, and even though she put up a good fight, she went home to be with the Lord last week.  I hadn’t seen her in quite some time.  As a matter of fact, I really can’t remember when the last time was that I saw her in person.  She was my mother’s older sister and 1 of just 4 of the remaining siblings.  I had been in contact with my cousin Shellie over the past few months and she asked if I would come and perform the Funeral service when the time came…….Of course I agreed.

As I was travelling north early Thursday morning, I got to praying and meditating on what the Lord would have me to speak during the ceremony that evening.  I thought of the usual things that a nephew would.  I remembered that Aunt Doris had introduced me to chicken and dumplings.  A love affair that I continue to this day. (Actually, I tell people that you can keep the chicken and give me the dumplings..).  I thought of the house across town from ours and going there on Halloween one year and going trick or treat with Shellie, Andrea, and Dwight(I called him Bucky, his nickname).  I remember going just across the street to 6th district school and playing on the playground, and the fun times at Uncle Ed and Aunt Doris’ house.

Then as I was driving, the Lord reminded me that Uncle Ed and Aunt Doris were the 1st ones to ever take me to church.  They were attending Burlington Church of the Nazarene which at the time was holding service I believe at the fairgrounds.  I can remember a Vacation Bible School or youth program going on, with a lot of activities.  They were the ones who introduced me to Jesus Christ.

Fast forward a few years to when I was 12.  My mother’s younger sister Janice was sick with Cancer.  Aunt Jan was like a second mother to me.  The Hughes’ and Hales were together a lot when I was growing up.  I would spend a lot of time with her.  She fought a brave fight as well, eventually moving on to her reward.  As I mourned her passing, the thought came to me of what came after this life.  Do we just die and go into the ground forever or was there something more.  Her passing started me on a journey that I have been on for almost 30 years now.  A few weeks after her passing my Aunt Alma and Uncle Oscar started taking us to church.  I witnessed my mother give her heart to the Lord one Sunday Morning at the same church where I first attended, but in a different permanent building.  A few months later, at Mt. Hope Nazarene campground, I gave my heart to Jesus Christ myself.

We attended Burlington Church for a few more weeks after that, until Uncle Oscar decided that he couldn’t make that drive, so we started attending Eastside Church of the Nazarene.  And as fate would seem to have it, we were attending church with Aunt Doris and Uncle Ed.  I really loved being able to attend church with some of my family.  I would go up to Aunt Doris and pat her hair gently and call her my “little poodle”.  She would laugh and give me that look.  Uncle Ed would give me singing tips when I began singing solos and in the church choir.  We would attend church with them until I got married and eventually moved on to another church.

And as life goes I lost touch with Ed and Doris.  We would move to West Va. and then to South Carolina.  I would see them occasionally, usually at funerals unfortunately.  Then as time past on Facebook.

So as I stood before my family and friends the other night to speak on behalf of this beautiful, wonderful woman, I knew what she would have me to speak.  Along with the funny anecdotes of the dumplings and poodle hair, she would want me to tell of her lifelong love affair with not only Ed Caddell, but with her savior, Jesus Christ.  I felt that my family should know that 30 years ago I was where a lot of them may be right now.  Not understanding what is after this life, or how to cope with losing someone that you love so much.  All I can say is to trust in Jesus.  I wanted to introduce Him to them the way the Ed and Doris did for me so many years before.  I pray that as she looked down on us that night that she was proud of what was said.  I know she smiled to hear Rodney’s words, for he did an outstanding job.  I pray that all of my family and friends know how much I love them and how honored I was to be able to speak.  Thank you for that privilege!

So as I was following the hearse up the hill the other morning, I was not filled with the same lost feeling that I had 30 years ago.  This time I was reminded of the Love of Christ and the hope that we have as Christians that tell us that when we die in the Lord, we are heading to a wonderful place of peace and perfect rest.  So Aunt Doris I say this honestly……. Rest in Peace in the arms of Jesus.

 

For This I’m Thankful.

I haven’t been too thankful lately…..

I started this blog just as a way for me to show my thankfulness to the Lord for all that He does for me on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis.  I also wanted to show others that in this terrible day that we live, that there is a God in Heaven that loves and cares for His people.  That there is still something to live for and to believe in.  I still do.

Over the Christmas holiday, I was wanting to post for different birthdays and especially Christmas to celebrate the birth of our Savior.  I just wasn’t feeling thankful.  It was not especially hard this year during the holidays like it has been in years past.  I guess I was just looking too close at the trials and hardships of people around us, trying to reason it all out with a carnal mind and not trying to look through the eyes of the Lord at it all.  I see such hurt and despair in so many lives that sometimes if you are not careful, you can let it get you down and forget ALL of the Blessings that we receive on a daily basis.  Bottom line……God is so good to me!

The Apostle Paul states in   1Cor. 15:19 that “if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”  And that was what I was doing.  Looking at this life through the flesh.  Even at church I would get a touch, but not like I normally would.  Each day would bring more discouragement.  I noticed that I was starting to get that “grumpy complex” back with my wife and family. I was fighting this as I do not want to put them through that again.  So I would try to hide it from them and would find myself sitting up at night just pondering everything.  As I posted in one of my earlier entries, I want to inspire people, not bring them down.  I had to make a decision to really believe Christ and His Word or not.

Well…   I choose to believe Him!   I sat awake last night once more.  Not in despair, but in repentance.  I cried out to the Lord and asked Him to renew the faith and hope back into my spirit that I once had, and to help me grow stronger in Him as we see this evil day approaching.  I want people to see there is hope in this world.  There can be peace in turmoil.  We have a safe place to run to when all goes wrong.  I do know these things, but I had forgotten from whom I receive my strength.

 

 

How could I not be thankful.  I have been given an incredible wife and 6 great children to share my life with.  I have been blessed to stand behind the sacred desk and to preach the Word of Life, and to see it do miraculous things in peoples lives, including my own.  I for the most part, have had good health, and been blessed in so many ways that I can’t even count.  I have family that love me, friends that are dear to me, coworkers that I enjoy being around.  Most of all, I know the Creator of Heaven and earth personally.  I have known His voice and have been led not only to the mountain tops but also through the valleys low.  Both paths for my good.  To teach me to “trust in the Lord with ALL thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” as it says in Proverbs 3:5.

So today I stand in a renewed assurance that I can make.  You can make it.  With God’s help we all can make it!

 

For this I’m thankful.