Hold on to Jesus

This morning as I have my breakfast on our patio, I am enjoying the peaceful surroundings. A lovely morning with a gentle breeze, birds singing and flitting from bush to tree and back. Potential new tenants are examining the Bluebird house and appear to be checking me out also as they make their decision. Neighbors are important too you know! The fig trees are loaded with what would appear to be a generous crop later in the season and the pomegranate is starting to display its’ beautiful blooms. A large number of flowers have made their appearance and I am reminded of the many hours that Carol and I spent designing and tenderly placing the little plants that have become a mature landscape...which requires more care than we had anticipated at the time.

I am reminded that a year ago today we were at our lake house with Hospice nurses fighting to make it possible for Carol to attend Justin and Laura’s wedding the following day in Michigan. Frankly, it appeared that Carol’s condition was so grave that it was most questionable if it would be possible for her to travel any further as she so much desired. But again we saw miracle upon miracle and late that evening she said “let’s go!” We were not only able to attend the wedding with Carol reading the Scripture, but we were able to complete the third “bundle” Carol had referred to, and return to Charlotte.

Recently as I sat in Carol’s study/office where she spent her last weeks in a hospital bed surrounded by many books and artifacts from our trips to various world-wide locations. I picked up a small notebook that Carol made an entry in during her final days that was not written in her usual perfect penmanship but obviously written with considerable difficulty. On it she scrawled some lines from the Mercy Me song Homesick which apparently was an expression of her feelings as she anticipated that soon coming moment, and it was almost as if I could hear her voice as I read the following:

“I close my eyes and I see your face
If heaven is where my heart is,
Then I am out of place.
Lord won’t you give me strength
To make it through some how
Cause I’ve never been more homesick than now.
In Christ there are no goodbyes.
In Christ there is no end.
So I hold on to Jesus with all that I have…”

Those are some thoughts that my homesick mind is processing currently…holding on to Jesus.

Love to you all,

Chuck