Goodbye and Hello

This week held two major events for me. Both occurred on Monday.

The first was the funeral of one of the members at my church. Amos Beech and especially his wife, Lois, welcomed me warmly when I began attending Good News Baptist Church almost 11 years ago. Amos was a WWII veteran and I watched him grow old. When the Lord called him home on Wednesday, November 3, it made me very sad. He left Lois, to whom he had been married 62 years. How does one go on after losing a spouse of 62 years? She will miss him greatly, but because she dearly loves the Lord, she will look to Him to help her through the days ahead. But there will be an empty place in their home, and in our church. For the past year or so, he came to church carrying his canister of oxygen in order to be able to get around. Now he no longer needs that as he breathes the air of heaven.

Later that same afternoon, I met college classmates, Cal and Bobbi Biddle, as they unloaded a huge load of supplies for the mission hospital in Malumghat, Bangladesh. They had earlier dropped off a huge load of things they had completed for Bibles International. They drove approximately 400 miles each way in order to drop these things off to BI and Good News Baptist Church. And this was just a service to the Lord, for which they received nothing more than a thank you. They are members of First Baptist Church in Princeton, Indiana, one of my supporting churches.

After dropping off their two huge deliveries, Cal and Bobbi took me out to dinner and then spent the night with me on Monday night. It was good to visit with them again.

This week brought us our first measurable snowfall. Knowing that this winter is predicted to be cold and snowy, I did some shopping for winter things yesterday evening. I bought some Cuddl Duds, and a sweater. I usually don't need these things outside of my house, but I keep the furnace turned down here. Although winter is not my favorite season, I think I'm ready for it now.