Well, so much for frequent blog posts. We’ve just returned to Apex after being away for three weeks and it’s good to be home. After our mission trip to Mexico, we joined my whole family at Fripp Island (our favorite beach) in S.C. Over the years I’ve developed what I call a “theology of place” which is to say that there are certain places where God ministers to my soul simply by my being there in that place. Our week with family at Fripp Island is one of those places. We have been going there for over 20 years, and it reminds me of Rivendell in J.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, a place of beauty, peace, and retreat. Although our time there was filled with activities, it is always a refreshing week.
After Fripp, we stayed on in Beaufort for a week to spend time with my mom and dad. As many of you know, my mom’s health is in rapid decline with a rare brain disease similar to Alzheimers. She has lost almost all motor functions and her ability to communicate is very limited. How thankful I am to God and to my church family Ambassador for allowing me the chance to spend this week with her. There were special moments that I will cherish forever, like singing some of her favorite songs and “dancing” with her which consisted of helping her stand up and then swinging our arms together and shuffling our feet. My mom loved to dance, and these short but sweet encounters were a reminder of life’s little joys. Her faith and grace in the midst of suffering and utter dependence will always remind me of my own total dependence and trust in God. It was also a time to encourage and spend time with my dad who has loved my mom faithfully for almost sixty years and continues to do so. In a day when vows to love for better or worse, in sickness and health are cast aside like so many empty promises, I’m thankful for my parent’s model of faithful love to the end, a love rooted in God’s grace.
While we were with my parents, Cathy and I spent a good deal of time going through boxes of old papers and records that had accumulated over the years. Talk about a walk through history! There were letters and accounts from my great grandparents dated in the 1870’s. There were handwritten letters from my grandmother to my grandfather and from my dad to his parents during his first year of college. There were pictures from all these periods including many of family members I only knew by name. We came across a note from my grandmother to my mom written on the day I was born. It was truly a magical history tour for us. It also reminded me of the value of the written word. In our day of electronic communication, we can stay in touch almost instantaneously, but will there be a record of our lives for our grandchildren and great grandchildren to go through. Will anyone read our blog posts or emails 150 years from now? Will they even exist other than in some distant server in Silicon Valley or RTP? Maybe they will. But holding those original handwritten letters, untouched and unedited, opened up a glimpse into the lives of those who came before me that made me think of Hebrews 11 & 12. I’m hope to resharpen my pen and paper skills.
It’s good to be back at home, and I look forward to being back in worship with our church family this Sunday.
