Happy Wednesday! 

Our day began in Tom Bean, Texas with the memorial service for my uncle Johnny Roe.  The church was full with lots of family, friends and people Uncle Johnny had built houses for over the years. 

Also in attendance was his beloved group of coffee buddies. This is the group with whom he had coffee each morning at the local Grandy’s.  I found out that during the last month of his life the staff at Grandy’s did not charge him for his breakfast.  The cooks in the kitchen knew he needed to gain weight so he could have another chemotherapy treatment.  So when the last week came and he could no longer go to the “coffee shop” as he called it, the cooks sent a box of food to Linda and Johnny’s home and written on the top of the box was, “To Mr. Johnny, get well soon.”  I thought it was one of the sweetest gestures I have ever heard. Please continue to pray for my Aunt Linda as she begins a life without her husband of 49 years. 

This marks the third close death our family has experienced in 11 months.  Uncle Gene, Mom and Uncle Johnny have all passed.  Having an aging family is a wonderful gift in that they have all been such a part of my life for all of my life, but the reality is also that in having an aging family means that the passings of these treasured family members will most likely continue to happen in the not too distant future.  Please keep all of us in your prayers as we work through this latest loss and support each other as families should.

Prayer: “Lord, I love You.  Thank You for sharing Your love with us through sending Jesus. He is our life and our hope.  Help me to live today with eyes for eternity. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

“We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.  For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

2 Corinthians 4: 18

My Aunt Linda and I are Elvis fans.  Many years ago Linda and Johnny would scrimp on the grocery money to get all three of us tickets to see Elvis and then I would send her $5 every so often until my ticket was paid for.  We saw Elvis twice.  I remember with excitement when we would sit in the Dallas or Fort Worth Convention Centers and wait for the concert to begin.  Elvis would enter the stage to the theme from the 2001 Space Odyssey and then the stage and audience would explode into sound when he came on stage and he would begin with “C.C. Ryder.”  We all three shared one pair of binoculars (although I don’t think my Uncle Johnny go to use them much).  After two hours of Elvis singing hit song after hit song he would put on his bedazzled cape and sing “Can’t Help Falling in Love with You.” It was his signature piece and then the audience would hear these words, “Elvis has left the building. Thank you and good night.” They say he was faster than any magician in his exit from any one of his concert venues.  And he was gone.

For two hours during those concerts I was completely carried away by this larger than life singer/celebrity who had captured my heart as a very young girl.  But I know that it is easy to get caught up in the things of this world and lose sight of what is really important.  Our scripture tonight calls us to not look at the temporal, but look at the eternal.  As much as I would have preferred Elvis to have lived far longer than he did, he was a temporal person just the same as all of us. The difference in temporal and heavenly is that the earthly things are the things we can see while the eternal things are invisible. We, as believers, began our eternal life when we began our relationship with God through the crucified Christ.  Elvis left the building never to return, but Jesus came back as He promised and left His unseen Holy Spirit with us so we could continue to know and love the One with Whom we will spend eternity both on the earth and in heaven.

Take joy in the journey.  Wear comfortable shoes and get some sleep.  Count your blessings and say your prayers.  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 only moved by what I believe and I believe God.