It
started with a text
“Hi
dad, I’m buying my very first car from a dealership today...just need The Lord
on my side, I’ve been distant from Him…I don’t want to be but I feel like
there’s a wall holding me back. Yesterday my basement flooded, this morning I
woke to no hot water…all I ask is that you say a little prayer for me that all
goes well and I will continue to grow closer to The Lord again.”
There
was more where I put the dot.dot.dots…things like her having everything in
order...how and when she started drifting away from Him…how these little things
won’t get her down…and how she thinks buying this car will help her build her
credit.
It’s
just like her pretty blond self to say it all, like a fire hose, without taking
a breath.
I took
a deep breath…Car? flood? No hot water? Distant? Holding you back?...?
I
replied: "I love you Bug. I pray for you every day to grow closer to The Lord.
Your text is an answer to my prayers."
She
sent back a smiley face; an, I love you too, and a little red heart.
I
wondered how she made that heart.
She
asked about how mom and I were doing.
I told
her I was teaching a weekly Bible Study and mom was watching Luke (our two year
old grandson) every day and the three other grand kids after school…So, on weekends we enjoy being
able to sit and listen to the clock go, tic-toc.
“Ha ha!
That’ s literally what I’m doing right now! This clock…”
She had
a finger pointing up and an actual photo of a clock on the wall near her desk.
I
laughed right out loud.
“But as
the day goes on I don’t hear it (the clock) at all…” She went on to talk about
how good it was for grand kids to hang out with their grandparents. “I only
wish I had spent more time—” being the eternal optimist she added— “but, it’s
still not too late.”
I said,
“As long as you’re still ticking (tic-toc) or, thump-thump, thump-thump…it’s
not too late”
“Yessss!
Ha ha very true. Just like this clock. Some people forget about what really
matters in life until they’re reminded it’s still there and not too late.”
I
smiled. Just like that clock, I thought…but faster. Just yesterday, this young
lady I’m talking to was my baby girl in diapers.
I looked
out the window at our winter home. Surrounded by snow-birds in campers or
winter mobiles; we live and work and laugh and play and become family. But, at
the end of the season, one by one, we say good-bye…knowing full well, the odds
are, that some of us, will never meet again.
I could
see some of the campers in the process of packing—getting ready to head north.
Some, I know, may go a little further than intended.
I
thought of Charlie from across the street, we left him last season with barely
a good-bye…I always thought I should try, one more time, to tell him more about
Jesus. From my front door I can see the For Sale in his window. He won’t be
needing a house anymore.
I glanced
across the yard toward Red’s fifth wheel camper. As long as I can remember he
and his three wheel bike, with a canopy over the top, were permanent fixtures
of the park. You wouldn’t recognize him without a cigarette hanging out of his
mouth. Once, my daughter and I brought him a cucumber sandwich...brought one to
Charlie that same day. I never really took the time to talk to Red, always
thought I should; figured someday I would.
The gal
who mows the lawn found him, sometime toward the end of summer.
I shook
my head and closed my eyes. When I did there was Roscoe, my friend; a WWII vet
that kept me in awe with ninety-years-worth of stories. I remembered how, along
about the end of August, I kept wanting to call and check on him, just to see
how he was doing. I got busy. When I finally made it back to Florida and asked
a mutual friend about him, she just looked at the floor and whispered,
“Sometime toward the end of August, his daughter came in our office…and
wept.”
It was
pretty hard to see when I typed my reply; knowing that sometimes, it is too
late “as we see every year, when we return to this park and instead of old
familiar faces we see For Sale signs and empty spaces. Each tic-thump might
just be, the very last…”
Make
the most of every hello and every good-bye.
iluvu
& ipray4u every.single.day.
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