This is the first in a series of pictures of Gaylene holding a drink (mostly fruit juice or tea)and some piece of food in her hand. A colleague of hers showed recent pictures of his vacation. It wasn't long before those viewing his pictures noticed that every picture of him showed him with a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other. This is our version of his pictures. This picture comes from the first day on board the ship, even before we cast off to be on our way.

Greetings from Austin St.

Happy Monday! Our family has been asked to offer a special anthem for this Sunday’s worship. We held our first rehearsal tonight around the dinner table and learned the piece for Sunday. With Bruce being a tenor and I being a soprano we birthed three children with high voices. Our music director selected a piece of music that sort of accommodated our voice types. This will be the first time we have sung as a family without Casey. We had a good rehearsal, but there was most definitely a missing voice as Casey was always the lowest of our high voices and took the bass part.

I have discovered that one of the ways for me to move forward after the loss of Casey is to do some things differently than we did before. We are singing a piece of music we have never sung before. Singing in worship will be different without our eldest son, but God will bless our efforts and will begin to heal our broken hearts with music. Music has always been a place for me to go for healing. So my dear friends and readers, I ask for your prayers as we continue to practice throughout the week and make our offering on Sunday. The piece we are learning is How Beautiful.

Leviticus 26:12 “And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people.”

The television show Touched By an Angel has long been my favorite television show. The message is simple, “God loves you.” But not only does the message tell us of God’s love, but in the opening song, the lyrics say, “I will walk with you.” God walks with us to give us guidance along the way. God walks with us to comfort and strength us when we need them. And God upholds us with His love, grace, compassion and tender mercies.

God has walked with this family every step of the way in the road we have walked especially in the past year and a half. God gave me the promise that His glory would be revealed in Casey’s healing. Casey did not get well, but he was healed. God allowed us to witness the gift of faith in our son and as the cancer took Casey’s body God’s faithful strength grew in Casey. As Casey’s faith grew so did our faith and trust in God. God continues to walk with us each day as we continue to heal by His grace and spirit of comfort.

We miss Casey every day. God understands our hearts and knows how they hurt and how they must heal. Healing is not just getting well. Healing is wholeness. Healing takes time. Healing happens when we surrender our sadness and despair and our sin over to the One who can heal our brokenness. And He will heal us, step by step, with His love.

Thanks for listening. Take joy in the journey and take an umbrella! Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.