“Being a family means you are a part of something very wonderful. It means you will love and be loved for the rest of your life.” — Lisa Weed

That would be yours truly on the left and Kayla on the right. I was obviously practicing to audition for the part of Goober on the Andy Griffith program. You can tell I was well fed and for the most part, clueless.

Well, here we are again, and, I find myself on the run, early this morning on this Thursday, June 19, 2025. Our Legacy Choir made up primarily of seasoned saints will be singing this morning at two different hospitals in our area, St. Luke's and Methodist. Therefore, I will do my best to be brief. Thanks for showing up. Yesterday I wrote about my brother Donald and I said he was the 2nd of our six kids to take his leave of this world, well, that wasn't correct. Our sweet baby of the family, Kayla Jean was actually the second who passed on at age 27 from acute leukemia. Our Kayla was the example of how a believer faces death knowing that she knew by faith which was, for her, becoming sight as she experienced what it meant to be absent from the body, present with the Lord.  (2nd Corinthians 5:8) I did want to get that correction in. The fourth of our six to gain access to her heavenly home was older sister Frances who left us back in March of 2023. Now it is just JoAnn and yours truly remaining from our original six kiddo clan. Let me be honest, she, and I, deal with a lot of challenges that come from living life here on the planet. JoAnn will be 81 this upcoming December and I will be 79 in August. I've mentioned quite often how that our family, early on, experienced much in the way of tragic deaths along with what seemed to be unrecoverable sadness and sorrow. Looking back, it seems we spent way too much of our time sitting in a room with one of our loved ones in a casket. A fellow I knew as a teenager sent a message to our family that said if we didn't get ourselves straightened up we would all be dead and gone. Such encouraging words. Right? No one said family would be easy and God did not promise us a tip toe through the tulips existence here. Without going into any details, that fellow who sent us that message, well, later, sadly, he also discovered firsthand the horrific experiences that this life can bring. Remember what I told you the other day. Be sure not to send a photo of yourself with your eyes crossed when making critical comments about others and how they can't see very well.

 

Now I must tell you today's episode is about as thrown together as it gets. Tomorrow I will likely be attempting to correct the corrections. I have never denied that I am anything but a Work In Progress. And, I often find myself being told I forgot to say 'May I', and, I have to go back and start over. The good news? God is still at work. In me? Yep. Joel Hemphill, the late Louisiana Gospel singer and songwriter, had me pegged with his song that started out mostly being sung by kids, "He's still working on me To make me what I need to be It took him just a week to make the moon and stars The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars How loving and patient He must be 'Cause He's still workin' on me." Now you know. What's that? It does explain a lot? It really does and I am so thankful He hasn't given up on me yet. Well, I need to get into another gear to get ready to get ready for our busy day. Please continue to pray for our Jimmy. He is still in the hospital as they attempt to adjust his medications to help stabilize his  situation. Take care, and may God bless us all is my prayer. Amen.