Suddenly the big problems seem so little!

This morning I starting writing about trimming my grape vine and the correlation between adjusting the vine to grow where I needed it to be and adjusting my child’s behaviour. I was writing about having energy and sunlight, about happy things. Now, my blue sky's I look out and see have all turned grey and gloomy (figuratively speaking). It's funny how things change with a simple phone call. I was phoning my Mom to borrow back a crock pot that would be suitable for camping and ended up finding out that a long term family friend has Liver cancer and will die in 6 months. They are unable to treat it as his heart is already damaged and would not be able to tolerate any sort of treatment. He is ready to meet his maker and I'm am sure his voice will be heard in heaven above all of the others when he gets there. The sad part is the 6 months of hell he has to go through to get there. He is already extremely nauseous as the cancer cells push on his stomach and makes it difficult to eat. This man who was never what one might consider svelte by any stretch of the imagination is going to whittle away to a husk. We had remained optimistic when he was diagnosed and he has been on my mind and my heart a lot of late. The majority of my childhood circled around church and church functions. We were such a small community it wasn't like a church, but more like a family. Many of the people from the church are still friends today years after the church had been taken down. I'm not so sad that he is going to die, because I know that he has his place, but more sad for the suffering and for his wife who has been married to him for the majority of her life. As I sit hear sobbing with tears running down my face and my nose running I am crying for me as well because I am going to miss him. I don't think I'll ever stop thinking of him when I hear Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you;The Lord make His face shine upon you,And be gracious to you;The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” I can see him standing up at the pulpit his arms stretched out over the congregation as he blessed us. His voice was so loud and carried so well we didn’t need a microphone. He was a powerful speaker and he was also very down to earth as well. His booming laughter was almost as loud as his church voice. It's almost as if a piece of my childhood is going to die with him. He was my Reverend, and very close family friend and I am going to miss him, but I am thankful for the memories he gave me and blessed to have known him.

As I write this I can hear him sing with the congregation:

Refrain:
I am the church! You are the church!
We are the church together!
All who follow Jesus,
all around the world!
Yes, we're the church together!

1. The church is not a building;
the church is not a steeple;
the church is not a resting place;
the church is a people.

(Refrain)

2. We're many kinds of people,
with many kinds of faces,
all colours and all ages, too
from all times and places.

(Refrain)