Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Blessed!


Ain't God incredible?! He has supremely blessed us and our family. A week before Christmas, Keith's 93-year old grandfather passed away. We weren't planning on going down to SouthEast Texas for Christmas but changed our plans due to the circumstances. My grandfather was not a Christian despite numerous attempts to share the Good News with him. We are saddened that he chose to forfeit the grace that could have been his (read Jonah 2:8). It was hard not to correct people when they tried to comfort us with phrases such as "He's in a better place" or "He's not suffering any more" because just the opposite is true. I know they meant well, but the reality is that he showed no signs of embracing Jesus. Now, I will say that I don't know his heart, and he may have trusted in Jesus in the final moments, but evidence points to the contrary.
You might be thinking, "How can he say God is incredible and then talk about someone dying without Jesus?" The reason I can say that God is incredible is that in spite of grieving over the loss of my grandfather, God allowed all of my family to be together for Christmas, which hasn't happened in years. God knew when my grandfather's final moments would be and how much my mom would be needing her family around her during the holidays after a long, exhausting year, so he orchestrated the events to coincide. A guy by the name of David Crowder once said that when His divinity meets our humanity, it's a beautiful collision.
We had a great Christmas, and I want to thank God for making it happen. The picture above is amazing as well. Who would have thought that you could get 16 out of 17 individuals (including kids and a dog) to look at the camera and smile at the same time. My nephew Tex is the only one not looking, but I have to give him credit...he was consistent...he wasn't looking at the camera in any of the attempts to get this picture to turn out right. I guess he's just making his mark. :)
School starts in 2 weeks. Better start reviewing that Greek. For those curious, I pulled off A's for the first semester!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What about your nephew Jayden? Maybe it's just me, but it doesn't look like he is looking at the camera either. He was probably too distracted by his favorite cousin, Will, and wanted to see what he was doing so he could imitate him :)

Anonymous said...

I sae your blogsite address o your newsletter to the church. Its a great way to keep us updated on your family. Glad you were home with your mom over the holidays. Hope the new semester goes well!

kman said...

Sorry, Sarah, you're right. Maybe I put the wrong picture in b/c I could have sworn there was a picture with everyone but Tex looking. Oh, well.