280 – Partners in Sorrow & Joy

I am touched by several things as we approach the Sept. 22, one-year mark of Elaine’s departure into the presence of Jesus.

First is the memory of how friends and family stepped up to our needs for the two months just before she slipped away. There was some concern about how it might go when I determined to bring her home after one night in a nursing home. A good nursing home, but not her home.

We had 24/7 help as family and friends came and went. I paid a few but most simply wanted to help. Some drove 400 miles to spend several days or a week or more with us. It was all deeply touching. Thank you.

Words cannot describe the way Hospice stood with us. In a handout I wrote for Elaine’s memorial service I said, “They are accessible, compassionate, and generous – and the world would be very different if the Church emulated their spirit in fulfilling the mission that Jesus entrusted to us.” Thank you.

The compassionate understanding from so many since that time has been touching and instructive, and it continues. Thank you.

And then came my 83^rd birthday on Friday, Sept. 15. I don’t look at FB much these days, monthly at best, and last evening I was so touched by the many birthday messages there. Wow, I still have friends there in spite of my silence and my unresponsiveness to messages and posts. Thank you!

I spent my birthday driving in to Pennsylvania for our grandson Garrett’s wedding. (Mark/Jodie) Garrett is an ER doc in the Geisinger system there and married Siobhan (Chevon), a wonderful RN who is studying to become a Nurse Practitioner.

I am very engaged in friending relationships with several whom God has invited me to walk alongside in their journey, mostly men but sometimes couples, and have been busy working on BOOKENDS, a book for the Church in our Day.

Finally, God is birthing in me a vision for an exciting new ministry venture that will draw others into His current strategy for fulfilling the Great Commission. He is on the move and is inviting us to partner with Jesus as He builds His Mt. 16:18 Church in preparation for His return.

“Thank you” is not enough, but “THANK YOU” for the way so many of you have been “the Church” and have represented the heart of Jesus to me by your presence, words and prayers in the time leading up to Elaine’s passing and since. God knows!

I will post more here when He instructs me to, maybe soon. God be with you!

Ken

Printable pdf at: www.10minas.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/280.pdf