GCR Women

It's been just over two weeks since my father passed away.  It seems like much longer in some ways.  Daddy's passing has profoundly affected my family.  Even though we're sad and miss him, his death has a certain sweetness that comes from a life well-lived serving The Lord. But it's not just my family that's suffered the reach of death's hand.  At least three families close to me have lost fathers and husbands in the last few weeks. Heavy rain and flooding recently caused our trip from Lubbock to Midland to extend from its normal time of just under two hours to more than three as we took detour after detour to evade washed-out roads and high water. My niece just finished moving from Van, Texas to Ryan, Oklahoma.  I thought to myself: "She's moving right into tornado alley." Her own concerns had her asking God for a sign that she and her husband had made the right move. She got her answer Sunday night when the small home they'd been renting...

Mom's still asleep but soon she'll rise and start her day. She'll go thru the regular, familiar routines all the while wondering how to go on now that Daddy's gone.  She'll cry and then she'll sigh and take the next breath, the next step.  That's what we do, the living, the ones left behind. We take the next breath, the next step and keep on living. In his Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln said, "It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they...have, thus far, so nobly advanced."  He was speaking of the unfinished work of the soldiers who had died in the battle of Gettysburg.  But isn't there still unfinished work?  Aren't we still fighting the battle? Dad spent his life in many pursuits but in the midst of all of them was his dedication to the good works God had set before him.  Not only did he serve his fellow Christians, but he also fought nobly to save others, to set them free from the bon...