GROWING SEEDS: "Read & Believe"

 

 

"When you remember me, 

it means you have carried something of who I am with you, 

that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are.  

It means that even after I die, 

you can still see my face and hear my voice 

and speak to me in your heart."  

Frederick Buechner

Two months ago, I received a call from a good friend telling me his wife Sammie had just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  That very night, I received an instant message from another family friend who informed us his wife Phyllis had also been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer earlier that week.  Neither of these two friends knew each other.....and yet, were walking the same dark road...parallel roads of life.....and I prayed deeply for both families as they struggled to understand and to feel God's hand in theirs as they traveled these final miles on earth.

Three days ago, Phyllis passed away.  Less than 24 hours later and thousands of miles apart, Sammie passed away.  Sometimes death feels like a sucker-punch to the stomach, doesn't it?   

How do you view death?  Do you fear it....or do you embrace the fact that you are hopefully about to see the face of God and to hear the voice you've longed to hear?  As I stared into the eyes of Sammie this past Friday, just hours away from seeing her Creator, I could only imagine what those beautiful green eyes of hers were about to see.....what her ears were about to hear....and what her soul was about to feel.  

I could only imagine.....and there was this part of me that actually was jealous of her in that moment.

And I glance over to the Bible laid open next to me on the armrest of my favorite chair just now and I see where I had written the words, "Read & Believe" next to a scripture that had been highlighted and underlined many years ago in my Bible:

"That is why we never give up.

Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.

For our present troubles are small and won't last very long.

Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!"

2 Corinthians 4:16