Wednesday, June 30, 2021                            (today’s lectionary)
Angie, your 99th birthday is today!
Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Isaac grew, and on the day of the child’s weaning Abraham held a great feast.
Angie Sandel is 99 years old today. A small party will be held in her home, where she has lived since 1976, and her kids Mary Kay and John will celebrate with her, maybe even ask her to blow out 99 candles. I won’t get to be there, since Margaret and I have made the hospital in Austin, Texas our second home.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Remember, Mom, sitting across from Dad when he was in the hospital and sharing your meals together? He was having trouble breathing, and in a few months, on Thanksgiving Day, he would leave you and go to be with Jesus. I think of that picture often, as Margaret and I share meal after meal during our own hospital days.
Those who seek the Lord want for no good thing.
We have thought so much about living and dying in the last month, while Margaret’s life was dependent on life-threatening surgery. I realize how precious your relationship with Dad was in the last years of his life. It’s been 19 years since he died, and your side of the grave is still empty. Praise the Lord! Every day brings for you a brand new breath of God.
I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Do you not desire life, and take delight in prosperous days?
So will you pray for us? We want what you and Dad had for so many years, confidence in God and trust in each other. We also want to get organized and put our own funeral plans together, maybe find a gravesite in that same beautiful cemetery in Mt. Pulaski. No time like the present.
The whole town came out to meet Jesus.
Margaret is waiting for the swelling in her legs to go down. That’s taking longer than we thought it would. One of these days I hope we’ll be sitting across the table eating with each other somewhere other than the hospital. But until then, thank you for inspiring us and leading the way along paths we might not choose, but inevitably appear.
(Genesis 21, Psalm 34, James 1, Matthew 8)
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