Coming Full Circle
Recently
I have had to take time and reflect on things in life. Following God is something I do when I am not busy doing my own thing. Which is normally running away from him. It is a part of my being and a big part of my
life story. It has been an awesome
experience. Taking everything I do to
God is almost second nature. It took me
a long time to learn to sit and wait if God didn’t move me. However, last fall I came to a situation and
I wanted to move, only God was saying sit. I wanted things to happen and they
weren’t happening.
It
is not that I am not willing to sit and wait till I hear God in a
situation. The day before Thanksgiving
in 1993 I got laid off with no warning. I decided I was not moving till I was
sure God was in it. The Friday after Thanksgiving I was offered a job but was
not sure God was in it. I sat at home on unemployment till April and was
getting a little nervous and thinking maybe I missed God in the matter. When the job did come it was the same one,
from the same person, but this time the Lord bought him to me. I told the guy
okay, but also told him if I felt moved by God to go elsewhere, I was
gone. It went fine for six months and
the door was opened to me having my own truck and traveling all of the United
States and Canada. At least till God slammed that door ten years later, which
is a big part of my testimony.
It
is clear to me now that the reason my barn was not moving along was not because
I was building it. It was one of the
first projects in my life that I had the cash in hand upfront. The problem was
the why I was building it. I was trying to go back to doing something
God had opened the door to and then ten years later closed.
The two links are basically a testimony
of some of my experiences with God. The
fact I am here today is another having had the big one and been bought back. Little did I know that the next six years of my life God had plans for me. I became convicted by the Lord and a verse in 1st Timothy 5:8. My twin great Grand-daughters Mom could not get a job and was stuck living in government housing, with the bugs and the junkies. I stepped up to the plate and for the last six years have been taking care of them five days a week. I was 67 when it started. Looking back I understand it now. This part is being added in August of 2021. My wife said I was nuts, but I wasn't, what I was, was convicted by the Word of God/
God
has opened doors and given me everything
I ever wanted in life and it has been a full life, thirteen years in the
Army, ten years of it as a skydiving instructor and a tour on the Seventh Army
Parachute Team where we did exhibition jumps all over Europe. Ten years of
living overseas seven years in Germany, two years in Panama and a year in
Vietnam. Twenty years of seeing America
in a truck. Ten of those years were in my own truck and getting to witness out
on the road.
That
part of my life was behind me and it was all a Blessing but God had closed that
door for whatever reason. I was trying to
reopen it. My goal was to get in my van and go back out on the road. My plan
was to travel sharing my testimony getting stories to write for my blog. The problem was I had not bought that part of
the plan to the Lord.
Since
October I have been very ill four times and three of those times I did not really
know if I was going to see the other side but I did by His Grace. A couple of
days ago I was reading a
couple of friends blog post and the light came on. I don’t have to be out
on the road to share my testimony. I met these girls at the Blue Ridge Mountain
Christian Writer’s Conference. It had been my privilege to go three years in a
row. This year I missed it.
In
2013 at the Conference I met the person who had come the farthest to the
Conference. He was a pastor from Japan.
We started talking in the coffee shop and I shared with him that I had a friend that I had lost contact
with over the years and that she was Japanese.
She was the wife of my best friend who died in a plane crash which
killed fourteen members of the Army Parachute Team the Golden Knights. Well he
wanted all the details I could give him. I told him I had tried for several years with
no luck in finding them. He said no problem. Anyhow the next morning at breakfast he gave
me a piece of paper with her name, address and many details about her. I called and sure enough it was her. That fall I was reunited with my friend and
former teammate’s son at Ft. Bragg, NC.
He is very involved in good works and has turned out to be a very
awesome person. Another circle in life
had been completed.
The
Lord has given me an awesome life. I can
live it again and again in memories. I
have seen the world, but now I need to become involved. It is time to reach out
and help where he has placed me.
It
is possible to share all that he has done for me without leaving here. My blog
is doing very well. I am sure he called me to it. He opened all the doors, especially
my time working as a journalist my last year in the Army. Time spent writing for the Southern Command
News in Panama, The voice of America in the Canal Zone.
So
it is time to reel it in Richard. It is
time to reflect on all the neat little circles in life. To see God in them like
the one that just closed. The 29th
of May my wife and I went to the graduation of our youngest daughters, youngest
son’s graduation. His Mom went home to be with the Lord a few days before her
33rd birthday in August of 2010.
She fought a seven year battle with a brain tumor. It is only in looking
back that I realize my heart attack had a purpose as I was allowed to take her
to therapy and radiation. Our bond
became very strong and she was ready to go when the time came. She passed with all her sons and family with
her. The testimonies that were given at her memorial service made me see how
awesome of a woman she was.
The
day or so before the graduation my wife and I had these little things
happening. I took one of my grandsons
out for a birthday lunch in Evansville. On the way back we stopped at a pond
where Glenda loved to go and sit. It had
sunflower fields by it. While it is
early for sunflowers it was still beautiful. When I pulled in I had been on a
country station. When I started the car to leave the radio had changed to a
Gospel music station. I started crying.
Later
that evening as we entered the graduation a lady caught our attention. She was
wearing a hat, holding a lady’s arm and shuffling along. She looked very much like our daughter did in
her last days. I looked at my wife and we were both already in tears. Glenda
was giving us signs, just as she had done when she passed. We would sit on the front porch and butterflies
would keep landing on us. It kind of freaked us out and yet it gave us peace.
Once
we got inside the auditorium we found a good seat and had been there only a little
while before our daughter’s best friend, who she lived with for awhile during
her illness came in and sat with us.
They were there for the graduation of their son’s girlfriend. So Glenda
gave us plenty of signs to know it will all work out.
Friday
night I took my niece to an Amish auction near our house. It is actually ten auctions in one as most of
them are going on simultaneously. In the
course of the evening I started talking to a guy, mainly because of my Vietnam
hat. He started telling jump stories and then he said he was a skydiver. I probably physically rolled my eyes. I have had that happen so many times only to
find out they had not in fact skydived it was getting old.
Then
I asked him where he jumped at. He said
Ft. Stewart, GA and started naming names of people who trained him and jumped
with him. We had started at the same place
and within six months of each other and knew all the same people. We agreed to
get together some time and talk. It was kind of ironic to meet each other at an
auction. We only live about 50 miles
apart. While our lives followed many
similar paths and crossed often it was our first meeting.
So
maybe the circles of life are coming to a close. The Good Lord has definitely
given me a good ride and I have really enjoyed it. My only hope is I can become
a good stay at home Christian. John 3:8
has not changed and still applies, but maybe
the winds are just becoming softer
In
closing I just want to say to those who do read my posts regularly I truly
appreciate every one of you, even if I have never met you. I pray the Lord touches all your lives in a
positive way. I apologize for the long break between posts but my health has
been an issue. I will try to make up for
it by making the remaining posts I make, better posts. I would also like to thank another BRMCWC
member for encouraging me and for being a good friend. I wish her all the success
she could ever hope for. Her
book, Running from a Crazy Man, is about when God does not make sense. It
is in a guest post on my blog and is written in short stories format on how we
can deal with the issues we face in everyday life as a Christian and is
endorsed by Jerry Jenkins of the Left Behind Series fame, which might say how
good it is. And awesome a testimony to her writing skills.
