It's All Relative

Trevor told me the other night that he is not going to China at the end of April as planned. He's been trying to get back over there to complete a project since his first trip of the year was aborted in February. One problem after another has surfaced and so he's still here and the project is still incomplete. I'm sorry that he has work that he can't finish, but I am really glad that he is here with us instead of halfway across the planet.

This postponement of his trip also means that I don't have to switch call at work with anyone and now I will be off for Memorial Day weekend. I want to go home to Louisiana this year and visit the graves of Gramps and Uncle Tellius. I have always been overwhelmed by the sacrifice and heroism of these two men. Gramps was a paratrooper in World War II and Uncle Tellius served in Vietnam and I tried to let them know each year on Veteran's Day how much their service meant to me. This is the first Memorial Day since we lost them, and I want to do something special. I'm not sure what I'm going to put on the graves, but hopefully it will be something that they would have appreciated when they were alive.

This trip home will also be my first since Uncle Tellius' funeral. It's funny how we begin to mark things in relationship to the deaths of people we love. Thanksgiving was the first holiday after Gramps died. Christmas was the last holiday that we had with Uncle Tellius. Even the days of the month take on different meaning. The 16th will be the 8 month anniversary of Gramp's death and the 19th will be 3 months for Uncle Tellius. I don't write this to be morbid...it's just my reality now. I can't see how I'll ever write those numbers again without thinking of the loss my family has suffered.

Still, I find comfort in the thought that one day I will see them both again. There will be no more pain, suffering or tears when we all reunite in heaven. I Thessalonians 4:13-18 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have died already, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are dead. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Can you think of a more glorious thing than the rapture? Every time I read this passage I get goosebumps and tears in my eyes. I am promised a reunion with those that I love who died as believers in Christ. "And Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight. The clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend; even so, it is well with my soul"