A year ago we were making plans for my fathers funeral in Benton and burial in Etowah, Tennessee. The sights, sounds, and smells of the hills of Southern Appalachia are on my mind. Today Viv and I are sitting with Oscar (our dog) outside Starbucks in Crestwood, Kentucky listening to Johnny Cash tunes mixed in with more contemporary artists. Cash was one of Dads favorite singers. We played the album of Johnny Cash acoustic hymns during Dads visitation. Cashs music was raw, human, and real. So were our experiences with Dad. So are our memories of that week. I believe God sometimes sends messages by way of Starbucks playlists. Ring of Fire was just followed by Mumford and Sons singing, You were made to meet your Maker. Thinking of everyone out there in Facebook land who are processing their own stories of grief on this Good Friday. Honor your deceased loved ones by remembering them in all their humanness and frailty. Honor those who are no longer with us by remembering the good, the bad, the ugly. Absorb the good, forgive the bad, allow God to help you forget the ugly. Cash just came back on singing Im moving on. When youve touched the base of memory, not pushing it away, but processing it through the filter of forgiveness and the sieve of salvations hope, you can gently place the memory in the tomb and roll a big stone in front of it. God will find a way to resurrect that which is supposed to stay with you forever. Trust the same Jesus that the women named Mary believed in. When you go back to anoint that memory in just a few days you never know just Who might show up.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Apr 2014 20:37:46 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015