A Spiritual Roadway

“Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14).

Hey Gang:  Another New Year and we can rest assured there will be many new challenges that await us.  It will be a time when I choose -to look at what was in the past or to “look toward the goal for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”.   But this we know, when we travel God’s highway we can rest assured that there will be various sized pot-holes that will shake our back teeth, but we can also rest assured that, as Children of God, there will be many work crews along the way repairing those potholes. 

The past year was very harsh for the Hainley family.  Early fall my last brother went to be with the Lord.   We learned what a hideous disease Alzheimer’s truly was.  For more than six months we agonizingly watched the deterioration of healthy, vibrant human waste away to a less than one-hundred pound mindless body.  We learned first- hand that it is not death that is so painful but the dying process. 

I also learned another lesson in the midst of this wilderness walk; a lesson that would once again rear its ugly head when my eldest son contracted incurable cancer which ended his life a week before Christmas.   A week before the passing of my brother, his son lost his wife to cancer, and this past week my son‘s widow lost her mother to cancer. 

The lesson, what a blessing God gave to His creation when, after man opened the door to sin and made mankind vulnerable to disease, God “Drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life” (Gen. 3:24).  As I stood by the beds of my brother and my son and watched the deterioration of their bodies, I thanked God for His love in blocking the way to the Tree of Eternal Life.

Many times in the past five years I have again asked the Lord, “Why Lord?”  And I confess I had reached a point in my walk with the Lord where I just did not understand.  Years ago, when we lost our first son to an auto accident, I had asked the same question, “Why Lord?” his life was dedicated to you and he was doing good things for you.  Three years ago when we lost a grandson, who was in full time Christian service, to cancer I asked the same question.

That question hung around in the recesses of my heart and brain every time I thought of David, Ryan and now Michael.  “Why Lord?”  Several months ago we were visiting our Rehoboth, a place where we escape when we need a reprieve from all the stresses and problems of the world.  While there we went to see the stage play Josiah For President.  It was a wonderful, somewhat light-hearted play that contained a line that penetrated to the depth of my soul.

Josiah had lost a twelve-year old daughter when a motor-vehicle driver lost control of his car and hit his horse drawn buggy.  It so happened that a person who had been running for president went off the road into a ditch just in front of Josiah’s farm and when to seek help from Josiah.  After many hours of conversation, the Politician asked Josiah how he could remain so positive after losing a child.
 
Josiah’s response is one that is etched in my mind: “Well.” he said, “I had a choice; I could look back at all the things that the Lord has done for me and my family or I could let this one crisis in my life destroy my relationship with Him.  I choose the former”.

As I read through the Bible I find many who ran into very deep ‘pot holes’; ‘pot holes’ that might destroy some.  Lot’s wife ran into pot hole that she did not handle very well and it cost her her life.  Nehemiah spent many days with the alligators nipping at his coat tails but he did not fail to complete the task God gave him.  We were in the development stage of the Village when David was killed but we completed the task and many lives have been saved.

I asked, “Why Lord?” And when I walk by the barn that David loved so much, or walk across the campus at the Village where Michael spent over thirty years of his life giving of all he had, and when I visit Grace Adventures and feel Ryan’s presence at the horse barn and throughout the campus, my question remains “Why Lord?”

I close this mini memorial to three very special people who God blessed me to be able to know and walk side by side with them with a tiny piece of wisdom I learned along the way from a good friend named Paul.  I said to him one day, “When I get to heaven I am in to ask, “Why Lord?’  He responded, “No, you will be is such awe it will never enter your mind!”  I am counting on that, Paul”.

Blessings,

Gramps

PS – Yes, another change.  As you can see from this blog, grieving has taken a big toll on our lives this year -and Gramps did not mention all the others. Our energy-level and keenness of mind is a bit lacking; what we want to do, we can’t always get done. 

So much is happening world-wide that you ought to know, competes with the encouraging Devotional thoughts  - the purpose of this blog.  We found we cannot do five a week.  The series on Whats Happening Man is also important.  New decision: Monday and Wednesday will be ‘Morning Thoughts’ and Friday and Saturday will be the continuation of the series “Subtle fulfillments of Prophecy."