Not that bad, celebrating your birthday with Jesus!

Okay. Even the biggest and best have problems but Blogger is finally up and running again. For those who thought it good for it to be down a while longer, sorry. For those who start their day reading my little stories, well here it is and we're off and running again!

Welcome to Friday, May 13, 2011. Friday the 13th causes many people to be a little on edge, the bad luck deal and all of that. I would hope that we who are believers would have nothing to do with all of this superstitious stuff. Bad things happen every day. Bad things happen to many people, many believers, and they happen also on Friday the 13th. I do hope you and yours are well. This Sunday, May 15th, would have been our baby sister's 59th birthday. Kayla Jean was taken early from this life to her eternal home, on June 26, 1979. She was barely 27 years old, married to a Marine Captain, and the mother of three precious daughters. We've had some huge losses in our family over the years, and I mean huge. But Kayla's death has always haunted us because she was the baby of our family and we always thought of her in this way. When mom reached her limit and decided to apply the board of education to our seats of knowledge (all six of us at the same time), it was actually the plumb tree switch to the seats of knowledge, all of us older kids begged on behalf of Kayla because we did not want her to have to participate in what was no doubt our deserved justice. After dad died in January 1954, Kayla as barely a toddler continued to go and hide behind the curtain over the closet at the end of our hallway. That was her little game of hide and seek she played with him each evening when he got home from work. I don't know if I remember this or not but it seems that I do. Sometimes we hear stories so often they become our personal memories.

Leukemia. We all learned more than we ever dreamed about this dreaded disease. It came up suddenly and from the moment of discovery she was given very few options for any long term prospects. Young. Frightened. Worried about her family. What would our baby sister do? She turned to her faith and allowed it to sustain her, and sustain her it did! She held up through countless radical treatments that required as many waivers for potential harm as it did potential benefits. She persevered. She began to gain insight to the extent that she could see her privilege of soon meeting her Savior. Hurting? You betcha. No one loved her children more than her. She hated leaving them and Robert but she had a peace about what awaited her on the other side. There she was. In a pitiful situation with many days marked mostly by excruciating pain. How did she cope? She began to make contact with people with whom she felt led to speak to about their eternal destiny. She made a list, and checked them off after she was able to share her testimony and encourage them to seek God. She became an inspiration to people we didn't even know. She became a champion. Our champion. A champion of faith, and we literally watched her walk through the valley of the shadow of death into the glistening glow of the fulfillment of her life in Christ. We do not forget her, and we thank God for all she did to influence others before she left for home.

Kayla with Mary Beth, her youngest.

Her death presented perhaps the greatest challenge to our faith. That human reasoning is always poised to pounce with that cry of 'WHY? '. But we measure our sorrow against her own testimony of anticipation of meeting her Savior. She hated to leave because of her family but she also exulted in the expectation of seeing Jesus, and she is now with our Daddy, Granny and Paw Paw Mac, our older brother Jimmy, our beloved brother in law Kenneth, Uncle Curtis, Uncle Jack, Aunt Jean, Aunt Helen, Uncle Asa, our Andy boy, and so many more. So on Sunday we say: Happy birthday baby sister, but we also say: See you later sweetheart over there in that land where we'll never say goodbye again. Do we still have trouble dealing with this? After all these years the answer is: Yes we do. However, I think about a song that ministers to us all when we can't make sense out of the difficulties that plague our steps here in this life. Here's how it goes: "There are moments on our journey following the Lord Where God illumines ev’ry step we take. There are times when circumstances make perfect sense to us, As we try to understand each move He makes. When the path grows dim and our questions have no answers, turn to Him. Chorus: Bow the knee; Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see. Bow the knee; Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who holds eternity. And when you don’t understand the purpose of His plan, In the presence of the King, bow the knee. There are days when clouds surround us, and the rain begins to fall, The cold and lonely winds won’t cease to blow. And there seems to be no reason for the suffering we feel; We are tempted to believe God does not know. When the storms arise, don’t forget we live by faith and not by sight. Bow the knee; Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see. Bow the knee; Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who holds eternity. And when you don’t understand the purpose of His plan, In the presence of the King, bow the knee. That's the answer. Worship the Lord our God. May God bless the memory of our dear sweet baby sister. Amen.            .....More later.

PS: There's a beautiful presentation of the song Bow The Knee on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVEr4GNz70U