I AM HIS

         I can't believe it has been almost 2 years since I have written last. I have been writing in my journals instead. That voice that says who cares what you have to say, comes in my head but a dear friend who reads these says, I read them, please continue. So here I go again.....

     I have a sign on my wall it says.....I AM HIS......

         In the midst of this worldwide crisis I have heard so many viewpoints on what is "really happening here". So many spiritual views that my head could spin in every direction. I am not here to give another spin. It is all too overwhelming for this widow who lives alone and on little. So I get on my face and cry out to the One who made me and knows me best to ask, What do You say to me....to me....not to the world but to me.....

        I heard this Leviticus 19. I turned to it and there in verse 2 was my answer. 

² Say to the whole community of the Israelites: You must be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy.

       I stopped and in my Hebrew notes was the definition of Holy:

"Qadosh" Set apart, dedicated to sacred purposes, sacred, clean, morally and ceremonially pure, Holiness is separation from everything profane and defiling, and at the same time dedicated to everything holy and pure. 

     Whoa! But what I felt next came from the Spirit, that I believe dwells within me. And it was a directive. To not waste my time during this quarantine. It had not even been official yet that a quarantine was going to be put into place but I knew it was coming. I didn't pray it away, or command it away in "faith". I just knew it was coming and I was to seek Him even more and keep myself away from those things that were empty from filling my time. It is one thing to be separated in all of this but to be dedicated....to what? 

     The answer is not to what....but to Whom.....

     Intimacy with Christ will not happen in the crowd. He taught us that. The crowd is easily turned in every direction and confusion rules. But to be alone with someone affords the time to get to know them in a real personal way. I have had great relationships that have been life altering not because of impersonal teaching but because of love. They and I have delved into the place of keeping each other accountable and helping each other in concrete ways that do not happen on a Sunday morning in a building. It has happened as we lived with each other, and walked with each other in high moments and in deep valleys. We have laughed and cried and just been silent together. 

     I believe, God has placed in each of us, into the very depths of our souls the desire for belonging.....to be family. And He as the head of this, is the ultimate example of how to be intimate. It is not a blind acceptance and approval of all I am. I am a sinner that He died for, and paid a dear price to set free and share His righteous nature with. Yet it does not end there, He desires to share His nature so I can be like Him and have a bond that will last eternally. And I can share that nature by grace with others around me. It is ever revealing as it says in 2 Corinthians 4:6

6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 

     So many claim to know who Jesus is. But how many really come into personal relationship with Him. He told us He would send us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been my personal trainer, teacher, guide, discerner of sin, pointer to truth, discipliner, enabler, and friend. Oh how lost I would be in this world without Him. Jesus knew how much....

     And He (the Holy Spirit) always points to Jesus. ALWAYS! 

     There is no other agenda or God, Period. 

  And we need Him desperately to keep us from just following the crowd.....

       I once had a dream..... I was bound in chains for sale in a marketplace. I saw Him, Jesus came and paid the price to free me but He turned and walked away...… I knew in that moment I needed to follow..... I ran and fell at His feet grasping Him, and begged do not leave me, I belong to You. So I was taken to a wall and my ear pierced through with the symbol of a bondservant. He started to leave again and I began to follow......

     In this following I have been challenged to the very depths of my being. I have read and studied the scriptures, and prayed with blinding tears, "Lord I want to know You". I prayed that as a young new Christian over 45 years ago and He reminds me that He heard me and took me up on it when I choose to grumble in my flesh. It has been quite the journey.....but I would not trade it for the world. 

       He is my life......

      Where are you in all of this?

  Where indeed are any of us in all of this...… 

  I pray we are seeking Him, finding Him, and 

I pray we are following Him...….

     

I 

Door of Hope

In the book of Hosea the Lord is speaking to Israel and her constant wavering heart. We know how the Lord told Hosea to marry a harlot and to remain faithful to her though she is unfaithful. In the end she is enslaved and Hosea is commanded to buy her back and make her his own. It is a beautiful picture of God's endless love and His faithful longing to make us all His own.
       In the second chapter there are some verses that the Lord led me to years ago. I did not understand them as I do today or as I will in the future as it is always unfolding to me. In the beginning He is uncovering Israel's sinful ways, hedging her ways with thorns and difficulty. It seems only judgement at first but then comes God's ever purposeful mercy and grace to heal her.....

14 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall sing as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.  - Hosea 2:14-15

    The wilderness.......ah, a constant place God brings His children when He wants to become central in their lives. What is the wilderness?
According to the dictionary:

1a (1) : a tract or region uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings 

(2) : an area essentially undisturbed by human activity together with its naturally developed life community 

.



b : an empty or pathless area or region 
So, this does not sound like a very promising place to be led to but here you have it. God leads many of us in this path and it is for very good reasons. When we are stripped of all that we depend on so highly and need God so desperately, it is there that we have a soul transforming revelation of the Lord that we claim to know so well. It is there His love is revealed to us in endless waves of mercy and truth. And it is there we fall at His feet in passionate abandonment. It was the place our own Lord went to be tested and returned filled with the Spirit and power.
What is in the wilderness? According to what we hear and read, it is empty, without human life and development. But In verse 15 He says something that in human terms would not seem plausible. He will give her vineyards from there......life where there is no life. And in the valley of Achor ( translated, "trouble") He will make it a door of HOPE. 
    Hope? In a valley of trouble,  hope?  Yes!!  And ..... a song! A song with the same passion of first love. Remember singing and worshipping with your whole heart when you first got saved and brought to the light. He says In the wilderness, in the valley of, yes, even trouble He will make us fruitful and alive.
       The world is hurting and in the dark and you and I have been called to be light. How can we offer Hope if we have never come to the place where it is real to us. Believe me, they will tell if you are believing in your own words or not. They can tell if you are passionate about Who you claim to be in love with and if He is the person all your hope lies in. We cannot change ourselves without the Lord's Spirit so we cannot change the world around us without His power and Presence..
      I have seen much in my short life already, I've seen mountains of of what the world calls greatness, like wealth, affluence, popularity and the such. And I've seen valleys of humiliation, loss of almost all things, where those around you who should be cheering you on judge now how low you have come. Where you stand alone for a time and you look around and all you see is wilderness and trouble. But".................there I have seen it! The Door of Hope! Jesus Christ Himself my only Savior and lover of my soul. He pours His endless love upon me in waves of mercy and grace and my eyes see what I could not have seen on the mountain. I lay at His feet in humility in utter gratefulness and awe. Then I rise and go in His power and share the testimony that He has given me and so many before.........
            That despite suffering, despite pain, despite loss......we have HOPE.  Hope that does not make us ashamed because the Love of God has been shed abroadin our hearts by the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. I can testify that this is verily true. That in a wilderness of pain, loss and loneliness I have seen Him and been filled with Hope for a lost world. I must return to civilization now and touch those around me, give them the message that there can be beauty from ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, songs in the night because I have been there. As I recently read what Corrie Ten Boom shared, "There is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still." If He has brought you there He will show you there His vast ability to save to the uttermost those who have put their trust in Him.
Amen! May we all testify!
     

Trust

Recently I was reading a devotional on faith and Abraham the Father of our faith was used as a demonstration. We have all read.....
        For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." - Romans 1:17
And,
For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." - Romans 4:3 (Galatians 3:6, James 2:23)

         In meditating upon Abraham I remembered John saying how he admired how he went "out". He told me he kept hearing that word "out". And it came back to me about Abram's beginnings (oh yes his name changed later). In Genesis 12 it says, "Now the Lord had said to Abram, Get out of your country, from your family and your father's house to a land that I will show you."  He proceeds to tell him how he will make of him a great nation. And I wondered 2 things, Why did God call him to leave all he knew, and how long it took for Abram to finally do it.
         It doesn't give us the details of how long it took but I was meditating on the Why? too. Personal experience can in many ways take a portion of scripture that we may have read a thousand times and make it (yes I will say it) jump off the page.
         First the Why:

       In the last 7 years I have lived in 6 different places. Some were temporary while waiting for the next place. First my home of 20 years, then an Appartment, then my parent's, then a small apt while waiting for where I live now with another widow. And even that is not necessarily secure or the end of the line. I have cried time and again because I feel so uprooted. Maybe even more lately as I have gotten my parents house ready to sell. Going through 60 years of stuff, memories flood your being. And knowing the house, the only home you knew as a child will soon be in the hands of another. While sifting through it all there were times I had to stop, weep, and ask the Lord for the strength to go on. A whole lifetime of memories. And especially with John not there the journey is that much more painful. We are for the most creatures of habit and we like sameness that is predictable and comfortable. No ruffled feathers in our nest. In fact I hear quoted "bloom where you are planted"  more than "get out of your country" (and the first is not scripture). But what if God says move, go out to a land (place) I will show you? Go? Go where? Where's the map God? I have GPS on my phone, just give me the address. What? You'll let me know along the way? This isn't gelling with my plans, you know....plans? Like written out and put into graphs and spreadsheets with projected outcome in view? This is just not smart. What? Of course I trust you! So why this waiting game....?

         Well all in all we like to think of Abraham as our father of easy faith. He believed....and it was accounted to him for righteousness. God first separated him from what was familiar then while in the "waiting game" He declares His plan of making a great nation with this old man and lady. It was a future plan but it needed faith in the beginning, faith that trusted what one could not see in any chart.
        I've heard faith quoted as this often, "faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen" but the understanding of it is very limited. We live in a society that I find most difficult to really walk in faith in. We have most of what we need at our fingertips, and a lot of entertainment to lull ourselves to want more. (Making us watchers) Moving out and Waiting and trusting are not on the menu of this culture. But what if God needed this to happen because in order to gain a new identity one has to lose the old one. Again, What? God loves me just the way I am! Hate to burst your protective bubble, but no He does not. He loves us but not the sinful selfish way we are. He loves us enough to help us change, to become what we were intended to be by the One who made us. If He crushes us , it is to make a whole new vessel (Jeremiah 18:4) if He strips, it is to put on new garments, (Eph 4:22) If He empties, it is to fill anew. (Eph 3:14-19)  As I read the scriptures the Why part of this question is endless! It is for Him to reveal as the journey unfolds....

       The next question is "How long?"

How long before you let go of the familiar, the comfortable, the dead pursuits of money and the world's praise and hear What the Spirit is saying to you. To give Him your GPS and plans and learn to wait, hear, trust and obey whatever it is He shows you. To step out of your (overly used term) comfort zone and find the faith our father Abraham did. What he did, did not bring him fame and praise in his lifetime but this is what he is called, the friend of God. Wow I want to be God's friend. I'm learning to trust. For that is faith in relationship. It is knowing the God of my life and being confident in His plans and care for me. I have faced a lot of loss, feeling like a nomad in a desert, but as I lift my heart God shows me this 18 year old girl lying on the floor of this 60 year old homestead praying with all her heart, God I want to know You! I give you all of me, take me, use me, I am Yours!"
         I smile as I look, now over  41 years later at the spot, my altar and thank the Lord that He heard me and took me at my word.  Will you join me on the journey? To a land full of promise, to a God full of possibilities.........to Be His loving and trusting friend. Oh the tears I've cried, but also tears of joy as I experience His faithfulness, His leading, His cloud by day and fire by night leading me on to eternity.......
     

The Secret Place

     There is a reason you have not heard from me in a while......I've needed to hide away in the secret place........
    This has been a very difficult year that has stretched me beyond anywhere I've ever been in my life before. Oh in the midst of it, I cried many a time, "Lord! Are you sure? Me?". But He the ever loving, comforting guide, inspiration and power in my life would always answer, "Yes!". It is easy to listen to everyday people in our life who leave us feeling less than while they think they are encouraging us but I've learned this past year to shut out the mouths of the lions that roar.
        There is a still, small, voice.............
And if you stop and be still and quiet long enough you will hear it. Though quiet it is the strongest force in the universe. When it reaches the ears of your heart it penetrates every fiber of your being. As Hebrews says,

     For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. - Hebrews 4:12
      But he answered, "It is written, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"  - Matthew 4:4
     
      Nothing of the inventions of man, word or deed can reach into the depths of our souls as He, the Word of God can. Even now what I am writing if you are reading it will not touch or revive you as only He can. Whom do I speak of? Jesus Christ the Word of God made flesh, who dwelt among us.
   
   
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. - John 1:14

       There are two words in the Greek for Word: Logos- written word and Rhema- spoken word.

Neither will ever disagree with the other for they are One, One person. In this world with billions of voices crying out all at the same time how can we hear Him, the One who is truth. These voices do not just cry out when they are near us but come at us through many venues and if we are not careful we will be driven about like waves of the sea in any direction they call. Oh do not be deceived, do not think that you are in control and can swim about in the choppy sea and navigate through it all without getting away and meeting with Him alone. I mean ALONE. No distractions, no background sounds, or devices to lure you to get back in and swim. I've learned that I am no good to anyone if I am not filled with Him. I'm not saying perfect, I'm saying filled with His Holy Spirit for He is the boat, the compass, the sail, the wind to bring me to truth and love and by His amazing grace I may bring that hope to another.
        Can I write that in the evening as I sit in the dark I pick up my guitar and worship, then I get quiet, He enters, and every part of my being is engulfed. He is my divine comforter, no human being comes even close. As wonderful as my husband was (and he was the best of men) He always pointed me to Christ to be for me what he could not be. And he was so right.....
        Some days like last week, I asked for hugs and got them but in the end I still felt the need. After days end I sit in my darkened room without distractions and seek Him whom my healing depends. He comes, He touches, He speaks, (few words for He does not need to ramble on). And like a physician He cuts deep, cutting out the infections I've let enter in, He pours in His healing balm, and He heals the wounds. Then He fills me and lately covers me. Recently I felt Him cover me with a robe but also place a crown on my head. I reacted, "Lord, I must throw this at your feet". He gently rebuked me and said, "Let me crown you with My glory". I wept as I do often for His unending love so leaves me undone. I rise again go to bed and sleep the sleep of a child with no fear knowing I am loved.
          I am not special, this is for all......His quiet place, where the God of the Universe, the Creator meets with His created one. This invitation is for the one who listens and pulls away......
Come, come away My beloved one and be crowned with My glory......
         In these dark days oh beloved please stop, be still and listen.....

1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 
2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. 
3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. 
4 Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip. 
5 Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.  - Isaiah 60:1-5

Remember and Honor

       I recently went to Virginia for a family wedding and then stayed with my brother in D.C. While there we do a lot of walking and seeing the sights. One evening he retired early and I headed out to the Mall (not stores but the green in the center of D.C. for you who do not know it). I ended up walking over 5 miles that night. At night the monuments are lit up, as I passed each one a hush falls on you as you remember. I walked past the Washington Monument, the WWII monument with it's lit up fountains and continued on to the Lincoln, my favorite (and it seems everyone else's). I read the plaques, the speeches, the quotes. John and I read a lot of history books because we both loved it. Maybe it is because looking at the past should teach us about the future. I could get political here but do not desire to. I wish to remember and honor as these monuments do, a man who changed my life.

         Today is John's birthday and it does not matter how many years pass, I cannot forget. His gentle, patient loving nature made me always feel so at home with him. I did not feel loved for my looks, my abilities, or my paycheck. He loved my soul and told me so. He exampled to me and to his children what it means to be a man after God's own heart. He showed His devotion to God in constant, faithful and daily prayer and completed that devotion by loving us so beautifully. In today's world that seems so angry and selfish I miss him greatly. When I came home in the evening he was there, we would worship and pray and I would confess my struggles and sins and he would speak encouragement, always encouragement. No impersonal "pep talks" that left you feeling like a loser. (I've gotten plenty of those). But he was gifted, so gifted in making me see beyond myself, to see God in me. To feel so loved that it lifted my soul above what I was going through. 

To honor him I want to share an excerpt from one of his journals from 

            

   February 1980,  He was only 26 ......

   "So many will enter into heaven and receive their rewards for all that they did while here on earth. But how many will enter which have allowed the pureness, the holiness, the meekness, the spotless character, the Truth of the Holy Son of God to be forged, formed, incorporated into their beings, lives, while here on earth. Our life down here is but a vapor. Hours daily must be given to this purpose or it will not be accomplished." 

  Oh how he did give himself to that end and oh how he continues to inspire me and others to do the same. Let us not forget the "little" man with the huge heart of God. I will never forget......

      

          In Memorial....... 

         

WHAT IS THE CHURCH?

This was John's constant question. I can't tell you how many times over the years I heard him ask it. And he would add, "for this isn't it". After years of organized "christianity" with it's fancy building and programs he always felt out of place. Men who saw potential in him grabbed him and began to try to "pump him up" for something "greater". Excuse all the quotation marks but they are in emphasis of the lack of truth in it all. I drive by the place where a pinnacle once stood, an edifice of success and supposed "anointing". There is a bridge there now in place of the large "church", school, parking lot and sports field with joining prayer walk. All the promise of years to come. Oh there is such a lesson here and if we don't listen we will miss it.
It all started in our hearts as we were excited about our faith and salvation in Jesus Christ. A small group of us met in an upper room of an office having a weekly bible study. As we crammed into this room from growth in numbers, it was decided we would meet in a local hotel. Well we continued to grow. Nothing special in effects. A few songs then our teacher would read off the study he put together on paper for everyone to have and read together. In between he allowed for testimonies. Every week it grew and more and more came by invitation. We moved it to local school settings of auditoriums or cafeterias. In a year's time there were hundreds attending this Tuesday event. There was such joy and excitement for me. I was 17 years old and having accepted Christ as my Savior the year before I was beyond joyful. At the age of 18 I along with others signed a charter to create a church. If we only understood that the Lord had already created it by His Spirit. Along came plans for breaking ground and building a large Center for gathering. All seemed right in the world but it was not. When men decide to not wait on God and seek His will first and plunge into "business" as usual that is when life leaves. Within a few years of being in the building the bible study died down to a few. So much money and effort had to go into this project. Then the labor to keep it up was monumental. Why so much for something that will not last. Our relationship with Jesus Christ by His Holy Spirit and with one another is the true life of the church. And with the need to make programs and get volunteers to tirelessly man them, it leaves little time for relating on any deep level. I would watch as my husband tried to fulfill the many tasks that lay before him. A simple man who had an insatiable desire to love God with his whole soul. His constant fasting and prayer for church showed me his dedication to see this in his day. I did not understand, I did not see it then like him.
But after many years in 2007 when we decided to resign from our little mission, I finally saw and understood. We never left ministry, our home was a constant place for anyone who needed a place to live, to cry, to pray, to eat, to just belong. I believe the Lord puts in every heart this longing to belong, to be heard, to be truly loved. Is it such a difficult thing for the church in America to understand this? With our release from the unending demands of organized religion, we were ready to live it out daily in our simple way of loving. Every evening John & I worshipped and prayed and believed. The fellowship was otherworldly, I will never forget the hours of sharing our hearts together. It is the one thing I miss the most. It is the one thing I desire to bring to my family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ. Two weeks before John went to be with the Lord, he said, "You know what? You are my most favorite person in the world to hang with." And I quickly replied with a heart full, "And you are mine". It was not just a feeling coming from a romantic desire. It was rich, deep and truly spiritual. When someone speaks to you, do you look them in the eye? Do you really listen? Or are you anxious to move on to more important folk or to get to be the one who is heard. I've done a lot of talking in my day and now its my turn to listen and feel what they are feeling. To love the way I was commanded to love, to give my time, my patience and my abilities to make that other person feel like they are truly loved, not by me alone but by my God who lives in me. No desire for a stage, or audience, just real relationship. The kind that will bring healing to a lost and dying world and healing to all my brothers and sisters who have been hurt by all the plastic activity we call successful ministry. Each individual touching another can change the world. As we get on our knees let us pray and repent from such fluff and hear His heart. The kind of heart that left the crowd and found a woman rejected by the rejected. He revealed His nature as He told her, her failed past and sinful present would not stop him from offering her living water.
He told us as He ascended my brethren to go, not to build and beg the world to come to us. There are too many that will never come to your fancy buildings, or tailored meetings. Jesus is our home and we are His dwelling place. We bring Him wherever we go. Look and see and hear what the Spirit is saying the church is. John and I got the answer finally. We agreed it is Jesus, the church being Jesus. And may I ask, Where did he build? He began with a motley crew of men, who were anything but perfect. He ate with, lived with, travelled with them for over 3 years. With No pinnacle or edifice of grandeur,  what did He give us? He gave us Himself. He died for us, rose again and sent His Spirit. This motley crew were later known as the men who were turning the world upside down again without edifice or building. This is the result of One life, One love. May we see Jesus as He is, and finally be the church....Oh beloved......be the church.

 Amen, let us hear what the Spirit is saying.

Canoe Do This

        Well I was thinking lately of relationships and the twists and turns they may take. But since I am better at word pictures I wish to tell a funny tale to make my point.
         A year and a half ago I went on vacation in the White Mountains with my dear friend Lynn. I love the northwoods of NH and hadn't really spent any good length of time there in years. Getting my friend to go with me was the first step. Since my job at the time was an office job I wanted to be out and about, hiking and seeing as much as I could. She on the other hand cleans homes and businesses for a living and I think I tuckered her out real good.

        The part we both will remember for years to come is how I got her to agree to a canoe trip on the Saco River. Both a little scared we set out. They piled us in a van, took us up the river 5 miles, and dropped everything onto a beach and left us. We looked at each other waiting for instructions but none came. So right from the beginning we couldn't agree on how to start. But finally we stepped on and pushed out. The current immediately took us and then before we knew it we were going backwards! Oh how we laughed and were embarrassed as we were shouting instructions to each other. (There were other groups there) We finally after much struggle were able to aright ourselves and got a rythm going. I would paddle in front as she acted as rudder in the rear.                                                          Now as only those who know it would realize, the Saco River is not a straight shot. In fact it is like ribbon candy. It could not be any more winding and needless to say our arms got a real workout. And keeping us from hitting leaning brush and trees was a real trial. It even rained at one point. It took us hours, so we stopped on a beach and ate lunch. We set out again and this time a stronger current began to pull us faster. My heart pounding, I tried to remain calm, wanting to show my friend we were ok and not to worry. Then the water got deeper and with the river bending again sharp we found ourselves lodged on a log unable to get ourselves freed. I tried to push and push, paddle and paddle but we couldn't budge. Getting a little scared and hoping we would not be stuck there till someone found us, I prayed, "Lord please help!" All of a sudden a rather large dragonfly flew between us into Lynn's face and she began thrashing about wildly shouting and standing, almost tipping the canoe. I shouted back that she would make us fall in. She was not happy needless to say but it was the very thing that got us unstuck and we glided on past all the debris. She announced at the same time that she was not having fun. I laughed nervously hoping that our friendship would endure. We did get into a flow together and were finally progressing knowing what to do when each obstacle came. We finally after what seemed like an eternity saw the dock and paddled in to an awaiting worker who helped us get out. 

        We got into the car and drove away. We still do not agree on the size of that dragonfly, I saying it might have been 6 inches and she saying it was 3 feet at least! Haha, we chuckle at the whole affair now and yes our friendship endured. She even thanked me for making her do it! I later found her a note pad at Zeb's Country Store with the words  "Canoe Do This".(chuckle)  I look back on this with a smile from time to time and recently the Lord showed me how this is so much like relationships. With twists and turns, currents pulling us in every direction, hindrances trying to keep us from going forward and fatigue from all the work at keeping it together. But if we will let the Lord take us on the trip we will understand later and love each other all the more for enduring the long winding river we call life. Lynn is a special friend, I cherish her willingness for venturing out of her comfort zone with me that day. We need to find those kinds of friends and when we do, be willing to go through whatever life throws at us and love each other no matter what. For when it is time to make our final docking we will get to thank each other forever.....