The Family Table -- A Place to Testify

Sitting at the breakfast table with my brothers listening to our parents testify aloud through muffled cries. Here's some of what they're saying: 

"We have new grace for today."

"Contentment on earth 

and a home in the sky, 

these are the things 

that money can't by."

"The Comforter abides."

"Nothing like a deep settled peace."

"The Lord makes us a bed in our afflictions."

"Amazing grace how sweet the sound.

I once was lost but now I'm found."

"I'm still on my way home."

"The people from Virginia have sent us many a prayer card."

"Great is Thy Faithfulness."

Grateful 

Inspiration from Emmaus

When the two disciples recognized Jesus as he broke bread for them in their house in Emmaus, he "vanished from their sight" (Luke 24:31). The recognition and the disappearance of Jesus are one and the same event. Why? Because the disciples recognized that their Lord Jesus, the Christ, will now live in them... that they can become Christ-bearers. Therefore, Jesus no longer sits across the table from them as the stranger, the guest, the friend with whom they can speak and from whom they can receive good counsel. He will become one with them. He will give them his Spirit of Love. Their companion on the journey will now become the companion of their souls. They will be alive, yet it will no longer be them, but Christ living in them (See Galatians 2:20). -- Henri Nouwen paraphrased

Grateful

Those Who Sail on the Sea...

Psalm 107:23-24 GWT -- 23  Those who sail on the sea in ships, who do business on the high seas, 24  have seen what the LORD can do, the miracles he performed in the depths of the sea.

Grateful 

Praying is Not... Praying is...

"Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts."
Mother Teresa

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Surrendered...

Surrendered to the breezes of the sweet Holy Spirit...

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Enough said.

Grateful 

Update Afterglow Capt. Billy: "Nothing to Pout About..."

At 5:30 this morning, my Mom and I were reflecting aloud in the afterglow of my Dad's hospital visit yesterday to UNC Cancer Hospital in Chapel Hill. 

Mom said to me: "I awoke this morning with the words of an old hymn on my mind: 

'He hideth my soul

in the cleft of the rock 

that shadows a dry, thirsty land.'"

Yes, after finding out Dad is not an acceptable candidate for a bone marrow transplant, we now have an answer. The doctors have done all they can to help cure the cancer and now in the words of the best cancer doctor in North Carolina, the Lord is "Dad's Ultimate Physician".

So, I am here to report that whether the Lord physically heals Dad or not, He is already hiding our spiritual souls in His Holiness. All is well.

Thanks to everyone of you for your continued interest and intercession for Capt. Billy and his family,

Yesterday, after the doctor left Mom, my brothers and me in the consultation room with Dad, Dad began to cry beautiful tears of triumphant testimony, declaring "I have no fear. Lately, I've got leaving on my mind. I am having a good day." 

Dad even said this once we were in the car headed back to Harkers Island: 

"I have nothing to pout about 

and everything to shout about. 

I have Eternal Life!"

Leaving UNC on Wednesday, October 1, 2014. Left to right: My youngest brother, Stephen Gray, Capt. Billy, my middle brother, Billy Joe, and Lady Melba. Oh how I love my loved ones. 

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Grateful 

Practice

Practice makes perfect so be careful what you practice. -- anonymous 

Grateful