Sunday, June 5, 2011

The Traveler By James Dillet Freeman

She has put on invisibility.
Dear Lord, I cannot see—
But this I know, although the road
    ascends
And passes from my sight,
That there will be no night;
That You will take her gently by the
    hand
And lead her on
Along the road of life that never ends,
And she will find it is not death but
    dawn.
I do not doubt that You are there as
    here,
And You will hold her dear.

Our life did not begin with birth,
It is not of the earth;
And this that we call death, it is no
    more
Than the opening and closing of a
    door—
And in Your house how many rooms
    must be
Beyond this one where we rest
    momently.

Dear Lord, I thank You for the faith
    that frees,
The love that knows it cannot lose its
    own;
The love that, looking through the
    shadows, sees
That You and she and I are ever one!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

This I Believe - by: Jayson R. Brune

This I believe.

I believe that life isn't always fair, but you always have to keep moving forward.  Life is not always happy or sad.  It is not always good or always evil.  The world is a happy and sad place.  Quite like the story I am about to tell right now.

It was a cool, crisp morning around 5:00am and out of nowhere I heard a strange sound.  I think it was the scariest noise ever.  I called from my bed, "Dad!  What's that noise?"  He replied, "It's just your mom snoring."  I shouted, "Okay," down the hall and tried to fall back asleep.

Then the noise got louder and no longer sounded like her usual snoring.  My mom was unresponsive so my dad, in a panicky voice, yelled, "Call 911!"  I rushed to the phone.  I was so nervous and scared I could hardly hear the operator on the the other end.  I ran to my dad and handed him the phone.

About four or five minutes later a fire truck and an ambulance arrived at our house.  The men actually fit a stretcher in the door of my house.  There was a lot of commotion and I did not really understand what was going on.  Then some of my neighbors came over and one of them took my sisters and I over to her house.  This was a school morning and it happened at 5:00am.

We came back home around 7:00am and everyone was there - aunts, uncles, friends and neighbors.  Everyone was crying and when I saw them, I started crying too.  We did not go to school that day.  My mom died at the hospital.

I felt like life was not fair that day.  My mom had died and my siblings and I always believed that she would live until she was old.  It was the saddest day ever.  While I am still grieving the death of my mother, I have learned that not everyone lives until they are old.  For some reason, whether it is disease, an accident or some other event, some people are taken from us before we are ready.  I believe that life is not always fair, but you always must keep moving forward.

This I believe.