Memories from Wayne on October 28th 2009

I have taken the day off today to stay home and read through this blog, look at all the pictures, and watch the video of the funeral. This has been a bitter-sweet time, an avalanche of memories and their accompanying emotions indeed. Truly, one cannot live in the past, but this blog has provided me and others a vehicle to go back in time and visit, being able to stop at these precious viewpoints along the road and linger, the mind wandering off into other memories that the viewpoint brought to mind, and then get back in the car and go to the next of these many viewpoints. The great thing here, is that the Lord’s voice is still heard loud and clear in the scriptures quoted throughout, in some ways even clearer now. Christy’s silent testimony that she rendered by just living in sync with the Lord Jesus also still speaks, I am so thankful that others have captured by their comments here in this blog of what was silently so powerful in her life. As the apostle Paul put it in Colossians 1:27 “which is Christ in you the hope of glory.”

There is not a day that Christy does not come to my mind in some way, she has formed much of the fabric of the life that we now live. Her children and grandchildren have traces of her character, and are the fruit of her and our prayers. Even Priority Appliance Service bears the impress of her fingers behind the scenes, she was so involved in the setup of the company as far as moral principles, it was the persons that she cared about, not the business side as much. She prayed so intently for each one that worked with us. Those that have joined our ranks in the last 2 years are likely not aware of this woman of God that cared so much for the environment that they would eventually come to work in.

I the last eight months that I spent with Christy, I was amazed at how she cared so much for those that she was leaving behind. There are persons (that will not be named here), that she prayed for intensely on a daily basis, some at work, some neighbours, some friends, etc. Primarily these were persons that had not at that time come to know Jesus as Lord and Saviour. From her place of communion with God and the resulting security that she had, she seemed to have a profound sense of sorrow and pain for them, knowing that they may someday step out into eternal darkness and judgment, naked and alone. To one I heard her say, “if by means of my death you could know the fulfillment of knowing Jesus as Lord of your life, I would gladly die right now here before you.” I was deeply affected by those words at the time, and still turn them over in my mind.

Christy carried another care, it was for her husband, what would become of him as a widower. In the last 8 months of her life, and of our time together we talked about everything that we could possibly talk about before being separated. I did not realize what she was doing at the time, but in many of those conversations she was preparing me for the next leg of my journey with an uncanny, almost prophetic sense of what was coming. There were discussions about our children, grandchildren, my diet, exercise, service for the Lord, and many of the things of life as a widower. I admit to not liking those discussions much as I didn’t like the idea of borrowing from the future’s troubles, the ones I was dealing with at the time were about as painful as I could handle. Probably the most difficult were the discussions in which she insisted that I be open to being remarried, she could see it, she could see the kind of person, and told me all about her. It was impossible for me to comprehend that at the time. I realize now that the Lord in His awesome wisdom directed her/us into those discussions to prepare me for what was to come. As I see it now in retrospect, Christy in her unselfish love, so perfectly set me free. She was being set free of everything here and was moving on to be entirely His in His heavenly home. I think now that she was careful to not leave me with any outstanding obligations to her. She was commending me to another lover if it was the Lord’s will. Those of you that are close to me now, know that this has happened in a way that is impossible to comprehend without the word miracle written over it all. Whatever Christy saw or perceived, or hoped for, has been exceeded in a way that deepens the meaning of mercy and grace in our souls. The words from John 2:10 speak eloquently and capture the sense of awe. “ but THOU hast kept the good wine until now.” I have always known that God is love, that he is exceedingly good, even when He allows suffering. But His goodness and grace in bring Kasia and I together now as man and wife, and as fellow labourers in God’s house, it is just so like God to do such a thing!

Kasia and I had my dad, Stephen and Jeff and their families over this afternoon and for dinner, as a little commemoration of Christy. As we talked, we sure were conscious of the legacy that she has left us. It is everywhere, even in Nathan, he was wearing a little sweater that Christy bought for Jeff when he was a little tyke, I remember it so well.

The sweetest thought of all regarding Christy is that she is actually and really conscious in the immediate presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is heaven, anywhere that He is.

2 Corintians 5:6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say and willing rather to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord.